Abandoned Rail Line

In the shadow of the suburbs
egrets nest in the estuary preserve.
on rainy days, a light shine of oil
coats the water but today is clear
and a nurse whistles the Internationale
as she walks the trail. Wolves
are too fragile to live here anymore.
            - Carol Dorf

“Our longing guards our mystery.” I read that somewhere. I'm not sure where.

From time to time, I try that out on interview subjects, followed by “What is your mystery? Do you have an unlived life?” When I asked Steven Foster of The School of Lost Borders, he responded,

We all have secrets that we don’t tell. My woman has secrets she doesn’t tell me. I have secrets I don’t tell to her. We all have skeletons in our closet. We don’t always disclose these secrets. And yet these secrets have a great deal to do with how we live our lives. They inform our behavior and our actions. I am in favor of secrets. I am in favor of mystery. I do not think everything must be or can be divulged. The more science tries to make everything evident, the less they know for sure. I like not knowing.
            It is spring here. The colors are coming out. Nature continues to revive year after year. Despite human machinations, spring will come. It is good knowing that. There are cycles going on much larger than the things that preoccupy us.
- For more from my interviews of Steven Foster and Meredith Little, co-founders of The School of Lost Borders, visit here. I interviewed both for Issue 26 of Heron Dance, Spring 2000.