A Place to Stand

The Shieldmaiden

Last sunset, last twilight,
last stars of December.

And so this year comes to an end, a year rich in the small, everyday occurances of the earth, as all years are for those who find delight in simple things.

There is, in nature, a timelessness; a sturdy, undeviating endurance, that induces the conviction that here we have a place to stand.

All around us are the inconstant and uncertain. The institutions of men alter and disintegrate. Conditions of life change overnight. What we see today, tomorrow is not. But in the endless repetitions of nature -- in the reoccurrence of spring, in the lush new growths that replace the old, in the coming of new birds to sing the ancient songs, in the continuity of life and the web of the living -- here we find the solid foundation that, on this earth, underlies at once the past, the present and the future.


- by Edwin Way Teale, from his book "Circle of the Seasons." This book is a poetic nature journal. The entire book is incredible and expressive. read it. love it.