At 75. May hope and history rhyme.

At 75.  I chose a couple of passages to read before we cut the chocolate birthday cake Marilyn baked.

Remembering my father

If all a man does is to watch from the shore,

Then he doesn't have to worry about the current.

But if affection has put us into the stream,

Then we have to agree to where the water goes.

- Robert Bly

Hope and history

from The Cure at Troy

History says, Don't hope

On this side of the grave,

But then, once in a lifetime

The longed-for  tidal wave

Of justice can rise up,

And hope and history rhyme.

- Seamus Heaney