New Year's was the 60th anniversary of the date Peace Pilgrim set off on her pilgrimage. My news Year's resolution is to take her teachings to heart. http://www.peacepilgrim.org/steps1.htm
I gave the inside of most of the house a good deep clean for the New Year over my Christmas break and I see why Peace Pilgrim viewed possessions as burdens. First weekend of the year I ran an ad hoc 40K slowly in the woods and took a gun safety course during which I loaded, shot, and cleaned handguns (already contradicting the resolution of cultivating peace). I also picked up Pablo Neruda's Extravagaria again and found this poem which I think is great for long distance hiking couples.
Con Ella
Pablo Neruda
Como es duro este tiempo, espérame:
vamos a vivirlo con ganas
Dame tu pequeña mano:
vamos a subir y sufrir
vamos a sentir y saltar.
Somos de nuevo la pareja
que vivió en lugares hirsutos
en nidos ásperos de roca
Como es largo este tiempo, esperame
con una cesta, con tu pala,
con tus zapatos y tu ropa.
Ahora nos necesitamos
no sólo para los claveles,
no sólo para buscar miel:
necesitamos nuestras manos
para lavar y hacer el fuego,
y que se atreva el tiempo duro
a desafiar el infinito
de cuatro manos y cuatro ojos.
With Her
This time is difficult. Wait for me.
We will live it out vividly.
Give me your small hand:
we will rise and suffer
we will feel, we will fly.
We are once more the pair
who lived in barbed places,
in harsh nests in the rock.
This time is difficult. Wait for me
with a basket, with your clothes,
with your shoes and a shovel.
Now we need each other,
not only for the carnations’ sake,
not only to harvest honey -
we need our hands
to wash with, to make fire.
So in this difficult time
let us face up to infinity
with four hands and four eyes.
