Silence, Solitude, and Aging: A Winter Revery
This is the season
of silence and endurance,
deep freeze of the soul.
Standing in winter landscape.
I have been writing
haiku with photos, praying
one pearl at a time.
The mountains with cloud pillow base.
As I gaze outside,
I read John O’Donohue’s
Walking in Wonder
The idea of
my clay connected to my
sister, the mountain!
Mountain sister.
Reminded me of
poet Gerard Manley Hopkins.
“God’s Grandeur” brooding.
I shared that poem
with three new friends on their podcast
all about silence.
Carl McColman, Cassidy Hall, and Kevin Johnson. Hosts of the podcast Encountering Silence. Greenwich Village, December 2017. Photo by Fran McColman
inspired me to pick up oars
and row my boat home.
I’m sitting by fire
warm in winter, clay humming,
slowing down, down, down.
What are you doing
with your wild, precious, Mary
Oliver winter?
Shirley, these are beautiful reveries. And the photos are just so beautiful. Did you know that the view you have from your home (and Vi’s) is one of the inspirations that brought me to the area? Mountains have always been a source of soul-food for me. I love the idea of Sister Mountain. Thank you for sharing these beautiful thoughts.
Lovely to have you as a first responder, Saloma, and also as a neighbor! We have been called by the same Sister Mountain. When you have time, you will enjoy the links to the Encountering Silence podcast: http://encounteringsilence.com/shirley-hershey-showalter-simplicity-and-silence-part-one-episode-50/ I was interviewed about BLUSH and the themes of simplicity, silence, and plainness — things about which you know as much as I do!
Thanks for stopping by. Hope your first winter in Virginia has been a blessed one.
I love it!
Glad you let me know, Diane. Hope your winter is wild and precious.
From the time when I was a small boy and my dad would take me with him to walk in the mountains I have loved the mountains peace. I am now 80 and cannot walk well but I still love to go into the mountains where I can find peace with my Lord .
Shirley — I find this post to be nourishing soul food as I sit in my rocker—smiling—across our small living room from Len asleep in his chair with Luna asleep in his arms. We have the grandparenting privilege of watching her Mon-Fri from 3:30-8:30 pm. My cup runneth over this wild and precious winter.
Now that is the very definition of wild and precious, Laurie. I know from experience. Enjoy to the hilt!
Thanks, Shirley. So incredibly inspiring. Especially as tax season gears up and I am nervous about this very last task of handling my Mom’s estate. Also now have the urge to the copy of WALKING IN WONDER sitting on my bookshelf.
Carrie, you have a huge (physical and emotional) task almost complete. May you feel relieved of the responsibility soon, and may John O’Donohue’s spirit come to comfort, refresh, and enfold you.
Oh, thank you Shirley for these beautiful and inspiring images and poems. I live in a little town an hour north of SF,Ca–Sebastopol–and the coldest it gets here in usually 40+ with a very occasional frost. But we still think it’s cold so I can appreciate basking in it instead of dreading it.
Happy Winter, Lilith
PS you can watch my show in which I become Rachel Carson on Youtube–just look for Rachel Carson Returns.
Wonderful economy of words to encompass such beauty.
Thank you, Ruth. You know.
I am in the West. British Columbia to be more precise. How am I enjoying my Mary Oliver Winter. We are experiencing a cold snap, -20 Celsius. But with this cold snap has brought the most amazing blue, clear skies. The light dances across the sky. And with this cold I have been the witness of the bay of the Shuswap Lake freezing over. There is just a small area in the bay that has not frozen over. As yet the water into the arm of the lake is open, as the waters there are deep.
I love that you are reading this in actual cold, June, in another beautiful place. The weather here moved from 7 degrees at its coldest, to nearly 70 degrees this week. Faux spring that both delights and warns us of currents in motion that are moving beyond our control. Yes to the blue skies in a cold season! And I love this last sentence: “As yet the water into the arm of the lake is open, as the waters there are deep.”
June, we are neighbours! I agree, the sunshine makes it bearable, but I’m hoping the cold snap starts to break today.
🙂
What a unique post, Shirley! The images, your haiku, and the Mary Oliver reference make it a perfect way to end my evening. How am I spending my Mary Oliver winter day? Preparing myself for surgery in four weeks. After spending three years from the date of my 2016 fall, I have the answer to continuing pain and a surgeon prepared to tackle the mess my spine has gotten in. Four weeks from today, Ash Wednesday, will be the beginning of the road to less pain. I’m spending a lot of my time pondering the gifts God is blessing us with as we face another hurdle in our lives together. Give thanks for blessing me with Bob.
Sherrey, I am putting a reminder into my calendar for Ash Wednesday. Prayers for you and Bob and your surgeon. So glad these words and images have soothed your soul. Hope your body will be soothed soon also.
I hope I can adopt Mary Pipher’s subtitle (or the one the publisher came up with, we know how these things work, right?): Navigating Life’s Currents and Flourishing as We Age. for the “best is yet to be” part of my life. Retirement is very close now and doing lots of navigating. 🙂
Melodie, you are well equipped to make this transition, with so many loved ones and a beautiful landscape all around. Want to have coffee and talk about jubilación? Just say the word.
I may decide to take you up on that … once I finish here! Thank you!
🙂
Your poetry is deeply spiritual, full of gratitude and awe, one definition for worship.
I gaze at the lake and tall pines as I sip morning coffee. The busier I become, the longer I linger, strange but true. And I’m rowing north if that’s the direction of book publication. Sometimes when I take breaks, I find solace in reading Julia Cameron’s Finding Water, the Art of Perseverance. 🙂
A few months ago I noticed your experiment with haiku on Facebook; now it appears to have become a practice and another way to celebrate jubilacion. Thank you for giving me another quiet moment today, Shirley.
You will have more solitude and less rowing after the book is out and you have finished touring, Marian. But all of it is good. Blessings in the days ahead. I love the collage on your blog yesterday. You might enjoy subscribing to the Encountering Silence podcast to give you 30-40 minute breaks. I really enjoy these, and not just because they interviewed me!
Yes, haiku and jubilación make great companions. Just like you and your water. And you and Cliff. 🙂
Shirley, I enjoyed the quiet cadence of this post. That, and the gift of being introduced to new pilgrims and being reminded of familiar ones. Such richness!
I’m slowly working my way back into “real” life after our vacation. Enjoying afternoons with books and blankets and scribbling in my notebook. February is becoming a slice of what January usually is.
Thank you, Linda. I think you named one of my favorite gifts of haiku. Cadence.
You have the artist’s awareness of how the world is put together. So glad you had a vacation in a warm place. I have the conviction that winter should be real, but short. That’s why I live in Virginia. 🙂
Now you can plunge into genuine Canadian winter but take a month off the end date.
From my friend Shirley Yoder, a beautiful haiku:
I wake to this day,
like soft petals unfolding,
my heart pumping red.
Hopkins knew
A thing or two
Of solitude
And silence, too.
It may be true
he also knew
A thing or two
About Haiku.
https://www.theguardian.com/books/booksblog/2007/dec/31/poemoftheweek22
Just the beauty and beautiful reminder I needed, Shirley. The weaving together of your lovely poetry, images, and John O’Donohue, of course, are exquisite. Mary Pipher reminds me, too, of my time in Nebraska. Thank you!
Thank you, Roselle. So glad to know we have connected spiritually again. I think you would love the Encountering Silence podcast.
Thank you for the recommendation–the title alone pulls me in.
So far this winter has reminded me to be grateful. Record below zero temperatures, snow, ice laden trees and surfaces, as well as periodic power outages have stirred within me a spirit of gratitude for shelter, heat, and warm food. I have prayed that all will find shelter and all they need to survive this. I’ve shared information on warming centers. I’ve accepted the offer, if power outages would come again, of a dear niece living nearby to join them if all goes dark here.
I’ve also been invigorated by an hour or so on some days of shoveling snow and ice. The activity also broke open a creative thought to support my memoir progress.
And, I’ve turned to writing and reading in this quiet time all around me.
I worried about the trees in recent days so heavily laden with ice, one willow tree across the street had it’s limbs bent forward as if to ask for mercy. And, mercy was given when rain rather than more icy sleet arrived.
It appears more rather than less words flow for me during this time. I do look forward to reading Mary Pipher’s book soon.
Thank you Shirley for your reflective offering which comforts me after the storms.
Be warm and safe.
Oh Audrey, Midwest friend and survivor of the polar vortex. I am so glad you have made it through and also think of those unfortunate people who stepped outdoors at the wrong time and place and without adequate protection. We take shelter for granted so often. I join you in gratitude today.
So glad to hear that you were able to write and even able to break through to new and creative thought on behalf of your memoir!
Spring is coming!
Oh Audrey, Midwest friend and survivor of the polar vortex. I am so glad you have made it through and also think of those unfortunate people who stepped outdoors at the wrong time and place and without adequate protection. We take shelter for granted so often. I join you in gratitude today.
So glad to hear that you were able to write and even able to break through to new and creative thought on behalf of your memoir!
Spring is coming!
Hi Shirley–
I feel stuck and have been for several years- in a place that does not feel right- I don’t believe it is because im burnt out of empathy and the misery is of constant crisis management and struggle is unnatural
.. I was wondering if you could give me any advise on what to do when there is Not One who I can call for help——-Excluding God who I know is with me but unsure why he is not intervening on my behalf.
In short I before the present- I was free and full of gratitude and awe of Gods creation in nature- I loved myself and life- discovery, exploration were embedded in my steps and too is and was deep communion and prayer. Here now I am in what feels like prison where I live due to 50 animals that showed up one by one that nobody wants and so I have been caring for them and it has taken everything I have sold everything I have to feed them and give good health… Im not well – im just exhausted in every way imaginable and yet still there is not one besides the kill lots and shelters that I cannot find it in me to take them there because they are Gods creation too. My present mission in life has become to free myself from this caregiving and try to save and care for me. Me who is not me at this time.
I have contacted the organizations who get billions of dollars in donations annually to do what is destroying me cause this is my full time job. I have no more energy money or time yet I still keep going because they need me. I need help that must be out there but I cannot find it..
That song ” the rose” has been playing over and over in my head that is when the devil isn’t trying to play his deceptive tune over it…
“Lies the seed and with the suns love in the spring becomes the rose” Some say love it is a river —it is a razor that leaves your soul to bleed. The soul afraid of Dying that never has learned to live ——– Well I want to live I truly do- and im alive–thank God- but I guess I don’t know how..so long as im caring for 50 animals nobody wants..The other song “wind beneath my wings” Sings to my heart and I hear my Aunt Shirley who died at age 50 my age now and She tells me to fly higher than the sky and she was and is a true hero. I thank God that I am here able to care for these lives but I know Gods calling me for something much higher – this he ordained a long time ago- this is exactly what I long to doe– Gods will not mine.
Im in the wilderness and there is no sign of anyone showing up here to help me but I still have hope . Thank you for your beautiful peaceful moving site . Elizabeth
Dear Elizabeth, I am sorry that you feel there is Not One you can call on for help. I can only imagine the burden 50 animals must be, even if you love all of them. I assume that you have already tried to get help from your city council or county commissioner, the SPCA, animal shelters in your area, and friends and family? If there is anything new on that list for you, I hope you can find help in that place.
I know nothing about sheltering animals and don’t even keep a pet, but I think you might make other friends online who do have relevant experiences: https://www.animalsheltering.org/magazine/articles/modern-cat-caretaker If you can find others who have been what you are going through and have come out on the other end, I know you would be encouraged. You might want to blog about your pets and tell their stories, trying to find them other loving homes.
Your heart is very wide. I send you a blessing and a prayer.