Thursday, October 24, 2013

look to windward

Old age and treachery will always conquer youth and enthusiasm, according to an old teacher of mine. Maybe it will.
Old age hath yet his honour, according to another authority. Death closes all, but before that, there is a certain perfection in the imperfection of age - like an unfinished drawing, in which the empty spaces establish their own kind of order.

Sometimes you have to look harder to see what should not be added. Death, says Priam in the Iliad, can expose nothing in one who is not beautiful. He meant that the old and the ugly already looked like death - an uncharitable thought. The old may be nearer to death, but every step on the way is itself an accomplishment. Drawing the lines on an elderly person's face is like marking out the medals on an old soldier's chest.




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