Monet Refuses The Operation by Lisel Mueller

Doctor, you say there are no haloes
around the streetlights in Paris
and what I see is an aberration
caused by old age, an affliction.
I tell you it has taken me all my life
to arrive at the vision of gas lamps as angels,
to soften and blur and finally banish
the edges you regret I don't see,
to learn that the line I called the horizon
does not exist and sky and water,
so long apart, are the same state of being . . .

Excerpted from 'Lastingness: The Art of Old Age' by Nicholas Delbanco

Making peace...

 

I've made peace with the winter and the cold. I've come to like the vigor and exhilaration of the air; the urge to walk 'smartly'. I like the food...stews, chili, cassoulet, hot chocolate or Baileys in my coffee. I like the clothes..the scarves, layers of warm woolly stuff, boots. Even enjoy shoveling snow (tho that's on hold for a bit), long afternoons inside with crafts and artwork, a good mystery read under a cozy afghan, coffee and conversation with friends in a warm kitchen. A peaceful time.