Of Bears and Penguins

St. Louis Adventure 1:

Well, when you move to a new place, you have to start somewhere in getting to know it. So today, I treated myself to a trip to the Bellefontaine Cemetery - final home of many of St. Louis' most prominent citizens:

Lindell

Barnes

Anheuser

Busch

David R. Francis - former governor.

And the Prufrock family plot. The Prufrock's owned a furniture store in St. Louis, and the name lodged itself into the brain of a yount T.S. Eliot who in turn used in the title of "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock."

The reason I know and love that poem is because of my High School English teacher. Then when I lived in London, a roommate and I decided to memorize it, I didn't succeed, but I got a lot of it stuck in my head.

"Let us go then, you and I."

So today, I tucked my High School English text book under my arm, and when I reached Prufrock, I read the whole thing aloud. Probably the first time I'd actually read it in a couple years.

Eliot writes that "there will be time...for a thousand decisions and revisions that a minute will revise." I don't imagine he was in a graveyard when he wrote it. But it seems brazenly optimistic to utter those words in a graveyard - surrounded by testaments that time runs out for all of us, at some point, whether we've disturbed the universe, gone bald, eaten a peach or heard the mermaids singing.

Of course, you could argue that the belief that there will be time is Prufrock's whole problem, his indecision paralyzes him, still he has the prescience to see that he's no star, merely the prince's fool, and yet there is pain even in that prescience for the character - for he's not left in blissful ignorance - no, he hears the mermaids, he simply knows they are not singing for him.

Here's what I think though: whether you decide to wear your trousers rolled or not, do it strongly. We've all got decisions, don't let them pin you wriggling to the wall. And tell the people that you care for that you care for them, because despite what Prufrock says, there really isn't ever all the time you'd want. So start right now, pick up that phone, call someone and tell them that you love them.

***

And on an different note, the inscription above the Busch crypt says, "Veni, Vidi, Vici" - And in St. Louis, that's a pretty fair statement for them. I doubt they'll change it just because the Belgians have moved in.

My other favorite tomb was a crypt decked out with Egyptian motifs.

The leaves are hanging prettily on the trees, they'll be gone soon, and the squirrels will start to look a little thin. The winter's coming on, but for now, I'm standing under the Autumn gold. A gold that looks like it's been pressed and refined through circumstances to something burnished, gleaming and beautiful. A gold, that looks a bit like me.




So that's the news from Lake Wellenough, turn up your collars against the rain, check your tires, and don't forget to Hope always - it's just over that way