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Books swept me away, this way and that, one after the other; I made endless vows according to their lights for I believed them.

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Spend the afternoon, you can't take it with you.

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It could be that God has absconded but spread, as our vision and understanding of the universe have spread, to a fabric of spirit and sense so grand a...more

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An anchorite’s hermitage is called an anchor-hold; some anchor-holds were simple sheds clamped to the side of a church like a barnacle to a rock. I th...more

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Knowing you are alive is watching on every side your generation's short time falling away as fast as rivers drop through air, and feeling it hit.

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You can live as a particle crashing about and colliding in a welter of materials with god, or you can live as a particle crashing about and colliding ...more

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It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on...more

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I am sitting under a sycamore by Tinker Creek. I am really here, alive on the intricate earth under trees. But under me, directly under the weight of ...more

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The universe that suckled us is a monster that does not care if we live or die--it does not care if it itself grinds to a halt. It is a beast running ...more

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I am a frayed and nibbled survivor in a fallen world, and I am getting along. I am aging and eaten and have done my share of eating too. I am not wash...more

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It has always been a happy thought to me that the creek runs on all night, new every minute, whether I wish it or know it or care, as a closed book on...more

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The answer must be, I think, that the beauty and grace are performed whether or not we will or sense them. The least we can do is try to be there.

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I am a fugitive and a vagabond, a sojourner seeking signs.

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I am a sacrifice bound with cords to the horns of the world's rock altar, waiting for worms. I take a deep breath, I open my eyes. Looking, I see ther...more

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At the time of Lewis and Clark, setting the prairies on fire was a well-known signal that meant, ‘Come down to the water.’ It was an extravagant gestu...more