seasons…

You had already fallen asleep exhausted from a day full
so I watched that movie about the colonel and his three sons
and madness lost then found. I’ve seen it a hundred times
and never fail to weep when the sons go off to war and there
the youngest dies. But last night I found tears in a different 
scene, the one where the colonel pens that letter to his wife:
 
Dear Isabel, I am not fool enough to try to reorder a life already lived.
 
I cried for I am now the colonel and some full day soon our
three will go off to wars. Pray as I might I cannot reorder the
past but until they ride away there is still time to listen to our
inner voices and simply become the legends we wish to be:
to go over the mountains, to lose the madness, to begin again.
The madness will surely find us, but until then it is still summer.
 

 

Subscribe to Blog via Email

Enter your email address to subscribe to this blog and receive notifications of new posts by email.

Join 1,329 other subscribers

14 Comments

  1. Janet Lee on June 6, 2012 at 3:09 pm

    “Pray as I might I cannot reorder the past…but there is still time to listen to our inner voices and simply become the legends we wish to be…”. Powerful words that fit so well the season I am in. Thank you!

    • thebeautifuldue on June 8, 2012 at 1:04 am

      You’re welcome, Janet…thanks for stopping by.

  2. Vickie McHam on June 6, 2012 at 3:29 pm

    This writing and film touched me on so many levels…thanks for sharing.

  3. jamesscottsmith on June 6, 2012 at 3:40 pm

    Aye, the most haunting of stories. Thanks John. Good to know that the madness is real and that it is still summer. It will be “a good death”.

  4. Bill Gillin on June 6, 2012 at 3:47 pm

    Ok, John, I think I need to watch this movie. Can you give us the name of it?

    • thebeautifuldue on June 8, 2012 at 1:06 am

      Bill, the film is Legends of the Fall…there’s a lot going on in it.

  5. consolationofmirth on June 6, 2012 at 4:41 pm

    The movie gets me every time as well. Something about having three boys, I suppose. The oldest who wants to be a cowboy will be shipping off to Parris Island, to become a Marine. Reordering the past. I know the feeling. The years are short.

    • thebeautifuldue on June 8, 2012 at 1:12 am

      Heather, three boys? Mercy, you’re brave…and yes, the years are too, too short.

  6. mike graves on June 7, 2012 at 3:33 pm

    john, you remind me of your dad, the man who immersed me one snowy feb arkansas morn
    When you come back home, i’ll fry us up some catfish

    • thebeautifuldue on June 8, 2012 at 1:13 am

      Mike, I’m looking forward to that catfish…I’ll hold you to it, alright?

  7. mike graves on June 7, 2012 at 5:04 pm

    one more thing, you remember ” blided by the light” by Manfred Mann,your dad will remember ” Quinn the Eskimo” by a younger clean cut Manfred Mann

  8. aarondmchugh on June 18, 2012 at 2:33 pm

    John, really enjoy this post. I love that scene, the one you have in the picture. I can’t make it through without tears as well. For the days we have, let us be rich with presence of mind to soak it in. Here is to Summer and the boys @ home.

Leave a Comment