Friday, August 23, 2019

Where I Live....

They say “nothing happens in small towns.”  But I would question that statement. I’ve lived in the same little town for forty-six years.  Through the years many have asked me “Why?”  I came with a purpose and lived out that purpose as best I knew how, but that’s another story.  I can tell you, from my own experience,  that a lot can and does happen in little towns.  Every little town is a microcosm of every big town, and every big town is a microcosm of every urban center. 

Edgar Frank wrote a poem that I have often used to answer those who wonder how I’ve managed to live in my small town.  He suggests, and I believe rightly so, that no one of us can live in some constrained geographical space if we are really alive.

“How can you live in Goshen?”
Said a friend from afar,
“This wretched country town
Where folks talk little things all year
And plant their cabbage by the moon!”
Said I:
“I do not live in Goshen,—
I eat here, sleep here, work here;
I live in Greece,
Where Plato taught,
And Phidias carved,
And Epictetus wrote.
I dwell in Italy, 
Where Michael Angelo wrought
In color, form and mass; 
Where Cicero penned immortal lines,
And Dante sang undying songs.
Think not my life is small
Because you see a puny place;
I have my books; I have my dreams; 
A thousand souls have left for me
Enchantment that transcends
Both time and place.
And so I live in Paradise,
Not here.”





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