Idyll
A stretch of necessarily idle time lay before him,
rare in his life these days, so much so that he felt
anxious at first rather than calm, but just at first.
He gradually waded out into the deeps of doing
absolutely nothing productive by man’s standards
and thought busy hands are equally the devil’s tools.
Pitter-patter. It began to rain in his mind. An efficient
man would’ve hoisted an umbrella and hustled, but he
sensed the drops a compelling and generous providence
of Nature, so he sat in the downpour and got soaked to
the bone by memories long-stored in his attic, and for
the first time in a long time he felt a friend to himself.
Holy crap, John. HOW do you do this? This is so exactly right. So.Exactly. Thank you. This one is going in my little word doc of things I want to see again and again. In fact, I may have to tred through your archives for more of those, as so far, I don’t see a book forthcoming…
Diana, its reassuring to know other people who keep lists of things they want to see again and again…I do too.
Oh, how I loved this. I look forward to seeing new posts from you. Like recieving good mail. And maybe because it makes me pause, reflect and become a better friend to myself. If that makes sense at all.
I thank you.
Heather, it makes perfect sense.
necessarily idyll. I haven’t seen this make many of the “We believe” lists, but it sure ought to. I’ve been using the word leisure a lot. Idyll will do just fine too. Thank you.
Winn, there’s a nice place between those two words – ‘idyll’ and ‘idle’…
indeed. you play it (them) well.
Just like fresh air, my friend. Thank you.
You are welcome, GH…hope all is well.
I love to read your stuff John… it’s so rich, ripe, raw and real… (and that’s enough “r”s from me ; )
Patricia, thanks for your alliterative response!
Hello John. This is a beautiful gift you have! I think what you do so very well is portray a feeling in words without really using words. Not sure that makes compete sense, but it’s the only way I can think of to express the feelings your writing brings forward in my heart. This reminds me of something Brennan Manning said on a YouTube video. (I treasure so much his words) This is what he said (I may not have it completely right, some of his words were a bit slurred). “Letting myself be loved by God is the most important reality of my life, and the truth of it, it comes to overcome you. Just conscientiously wasting time with God; when that becomes the hard drive truth of your existence. To let God be God.” Just beautiful! Thank you for so generously sharing your gift.
Thank you, Mary…yes, Brennan had it right.
Thank you so much for these words John. Your words here fall like a slow, steady, refreshing rain on my too often, no-margin, drought-plagued soul and body. My weekend will be different.
Thanks for taking the time to comment, Jim…I’m glad your weekend will be different, I pray its full of re-creation.