Post #2: "Dolce Domum," The Wind in the Willows, and a life-jacket...

Those who know me well also know that I don't re-read books very often. There are a few that I have, though, among them Siddhartha (Hesse), the LOTR and The Hobbit, The Secret Garden (Burnett), The Little Prince (Saint Exupery), and obviously, the things I have taught in classes over the years. Because of the emotional/physical/spiritual turmoil I am feeling lately, I sense that I am drowning a bit. I have been clinging to music from my childhood-- all the folk/protest songs-- since I saw the Dylan biopic on Monday. At times, I find it hard to breathe deeply, to get my bearings-- I tend to borrow and cling to stress, which is really unhealthy (I KNOW), but it's also how I'm built. 

Today, I feel like I have to- I MUST- read The Wind and the Willows. Maybe because it is comforting, maybe because of the memories I associate with it, but mostly, I need to feel safe. And when my dad was reading it to me, I felt safe and loved. And frankly, our world is on fire, and I don't feel all that emotionally safe right now. 

I hope you have a book that is your life-jacket. And I hope we all find a friend and champion like Badger.

C

Dolce Domum

 

My fingers touch the spine of a well-loved book

like a talisman, The Wind in the Willows, and on a whim,

I pull it from among the others, careful not to disturb

the stack. I trace the deckled pages, worn smooth

 

with age and use, and four-year-old me is lifted once more,

wrapped in my nightie, to my father’s lap. Every night,

after my bath and just before bed, he reads to me, chapter

by chapter, patient with my questions. He does all the voices:

Ratty, Mole, Badger, and pompous Mr. Toad.

 

I re-read his escapades and journey with Ratty and Mole.

Mr. Toad, in the washer-woman’s dress, escapes the dreary

prison and I laugh aloud. I will find my way home again.

 

Appeared in Young Ravens Literary Review