My best friend just passed away. After college, I traveled out west with my girlfriend at his urging. He told us to save $500 and just drive around, see what we could find. I remember calling him from a pay phone in Arches National Park, Utah, and going on about the sublime beauty and the sunset and the great stretch of land. "John," he growled from his trailer in the mountains, "I already told you, that is where America and Ed Abbey finally agree." Indeed they do.
And though my friend's life was cut short, his spirit will linger out there, where the wind cuts across the plain, where he kept his heart.
I have posted this so many times my keyboard is wearing out. But anyway, it deserves another round.
from a speech by Edward Abbey, Missoula MT 1978
"Do not burn yourselves out. Be as I am. A reluctant enthusiast and part-time crusader. A hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the West. It is even more important to enjoy it while you can, while it's still there. So go out there, hunt, fish, mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the griz, climb a mountain, bag the peaks, run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet elusive air. Sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness of the lovely, mysterious, and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves. Keep your brain in your head and your head frimly attached to the body, the body active and alive. And I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those desk-bound people with their hearts in safe deposit boxes and their eyes hypnotized by their desk calculators. I promise you this: You will outlive the bastards."
12 comments:
That is teh first time I rea dit though and WOW...that was worth read and a re-read in a second.
The world is made for living in it, not move along in it. I try to, whenever I get the chance...it is hard though, but certianly worth every little moment sneaked away!
I am sorry for your loss, but it seems he left great appreciation and a sense of living behind!
I am sorry for your loss, too. That was the friend you wrote the poem for on your other site, right?
Abbey's an ironic script for that friend, but I imagine but I imagine he lived better if not longer.
Minka, I have to prod myself along every day, but a person always knows when they are living well, don't you think?
Doug, yes, that was for him. And you are so right, in a literal sense, it is a painfully ironic passage. But I guess I wasn't really thinking birthday time, as all the moments he was really here. Just as you say - better, not longer. And my friend loved the spirit of Abbey, if not always the letter.
Thank you both for the condolences. Truth is, I am really struggling with this passing.
So sorry to hear about your loss, Mule. This is a touching tribute for your friend(ship).
Hugs.
That is very difficult and I am so sorry about your friend's passing. It sounds as if his was a life well lived.
I can only imagine teh struggle you must be going through. A person that leaves an impression behind within us, and it certainly seems he did that to you ... letting them go easily becomes soemwhat of a trial. it doesn´t help that the world is filled with idiots that are just a waste of space and one wonders...
At a time like this, and this is only a suggestion that you can fully ignore...I recommend reading Tennyson´s "In Memoriam". It helped me through some rough patches I think ... which doesn´t mean it will do the same for you, but a bit of poetry never hurt anybody, right?!
jh, thank you so much.
g, well lived indeed. I appreciate the comment.
Thank you, minka. As a matter of fact I love that poem so much. Thanks for reminding me of it, I will re-read it.
This is a much less poignant note, but I hiked Arches back in the mid-80s and had the same thought about the sunset. Utah is one of my favorite states even if it is mainly known for Mormons and dinosaurs.
I am sorry for your losing your best friend, and sorry for his having to leave this world that early.
it is terrible in a way, your poems in these days are better than ever. blessed and cursed.
Doug, Arches should be WA gathering spot for 2009. Logistics?
Thank you so much, Ariel. I do find myself ruminating on life more often now.
that photo has never showed up to me before!
Losing anyone you love by death is just plain hard. The past 4 years have been incredibly filled with loss for me - and it is actually causing some changes in my perception of what the heck God's big plan is all about... I'm just not happy with it.
I'm sorry for your loss, and I do hope things ease up for you eventually. I particularly enjoyed the poem you posted - am hearing the last lines loud and clear... the corporate world is killing me and I'm looking around furtively for an escape. Good wisdom to live by indeed.
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