{"id":60970,"date":"2025-02-12T11:58:38","date_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:58:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=60970"},"modified":"2025-02-12T11:59:11","modified_gmt":"2025-02-12T17:59:11","slug":"60970","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/?p=60970","title":{"rendered":"The Center. Can it hold?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Imbolc and the 78th Birthday Moon<\/p>\n

Wednesday gratefuls: Shadow. My son. Seoah. Today! Ruth on Friday! -8 this morning. Snow. Red Lodgepole Bark against White Snow. Eating and drinking. Celebrex no more. Tramadol. Sue Bradshaw. Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. Kaylor. Prostate cancer. Spinal stenosis. Mark in Al Kharj.<\/p>\n

Sparks of Joy and Awe: Shadow<\/p>\n

Kavannah: Love. Ahavah.<\/p>\n

One brief shining: My son texted me from the airport, they’re about to board soon, and a thrill ran through me, those two, precious cargo on their way here to Shadow Mountain, my family.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Annual physical yesterday. Key learning. No more celebrex. My kidney functions showed deterioration. And, as Sue said, we need our kidneys. That leaves me tramadol and a referral to a pain management doc. Their options will be limited to. Next best treatment: narcotics.<\/p>\n

The pain has grown incrementally since its break out moment in Korea a year and a half ago. Not having Celebrex will mean increasing limitations for my mobility. Not a happy thought.\u00a0Will be adjusting to this for a while. Unsure what the future holds.<\/p>\n

To complete a medical trifecta of dermatologist, pcp, and oncologist I have a telehealth visit with my medical oncologist’s p.a. Kaylor, today at 3. Big fun. PSA stable. Testosterone low. Should not be any surprises.<\/p>\n

OK. Enough about me. How are you feeling?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Just a moment: Breaking heart. The specter of a President flaunting judicial decisions may happen this week. My head spins at that thought. I mean that.<\/p>\n

All my life, 78 years tomorrow, I’ve lived in a rule of law society where courts arbitrate the most difficult, thorny problems and adjudicate between adversaries. Disrespecting a court decision? Unthinkable. Literally.<\/p>\n

Never on my horizon. Now the President has spent a business career dodging and weaving from the courts. Even when finally cornered and convicted he trashes the legitimacy of the legal process. This from the leader of our government.<\/p>\n

My inner gyroscope, the one that orients me to my place in the United States, has a serious tilt. My lev, too.<\/p>\n

I prefer Margaret Renkl’s response. (see yesterday’s post). My America has begun to shatter. Its culture losing its moorings. This place, these United States, are my home and my home now feels like it’s built on a cliff soon to erode from a rising sea of political thuggery.<\/p>\n

Maybe there’s help in the world of song lyrics about lost love.* Or, in poetry:<\/p>\n

Yeats, The Second Coming<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"\"<\/a>
Here is your medieval illuminated manuscript-style illustration inspired by W.B. Yeats’ The Second Coming.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Turning and turning in the widening gyre<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;<\/div>\n
Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;<\/div>\n
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,<\/div>\n
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere<\/div>\n
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;<\/div>\n
The best lack all conviction, while the worst<\/div>\n
Are full of passionate intensity…<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n
now I know<\/div>\n
That twenty centuries of stony sleep<\/div>\n
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,<\/div>\n
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,<\/div>\n
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?”<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

*I can’t believe what i just heard
Could it be true
Are you the (country) I thought I knew
The one who promised me her love
Where did it go
Does anybody ever know<\/div>\n
How do you heal a broken heart
That feels like it will never beat this much again
Oh no
I just can’t let go
How do you heal a broken heart
That feels like it will never love this much again
Oh no
Tonight I’ll hold what could be right
Tomorrow I’ll pretend to let you go\u00a0 \u00a0Chris Walker, 1993<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Imbolc and the 78th Birthday Moon Wednesday gratefuls: Shadow. My son. Seoah. Today! Ruth on Friday! -8 this morning. Snow. Red Lodgepole Bark against White Snow. Eating and drinking. Celebrex no more. Tramadol. Sue Bradshaw. Thyroid Stimulating Hormone. Kaylor. Prostate cancer. Spinal stenosis. Mark in Al Kharj. Sparks of Joy and Awe: Shadow Kavannah: Love. … Continue reading The Center. Can it hold?<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1980,4394,127,100,3907,1885],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60970","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary-on-the-news","category-fourth-phase","category-health","category-politics","category-reimagining-faith","category-us-history"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60970","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=60970"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60970\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60973,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60970\/revisions\/60973"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=60970"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=60970"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ancientrails.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=60970"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}