<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><span style="color: rgb(34, 34, 34); widows: 1;" class="">Foreseeing</span><br class=""><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1"></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1"><em class="">Middle age</em> refers more</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">to landscape than to time:</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">it’s as if you’d reached</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">the top of a hill</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">and could see all the way</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">to the end of your life,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">so you know without a doubt</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">that it has an end—</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">not that it will have,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">but that it does have,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">if only in outline—</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">so for the first time</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">you can see your life whole,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">beginning and end not far</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">from where you stand,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">the horizon in the distance—</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">the view makes you weep,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">but it also has the beauty</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">of symmetry, like the earth</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">seen from space: you can’t help</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">but admire it from afar,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">especially now, while it’s simple</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">to re-enter whenever you choose,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">lying down in your life,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">waking up to it</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">just as you always have—</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">except that the details resonate</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">by virtue of being contained,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">as your own words</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">coming back to you</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">define the landscape,</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">remind you that it won’t go on</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1">like this forever.</span></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1"></span><br class=""></div><div style="margin: 0px; padding: 0px; color: rgb(34, 34, 34); line-height: normal; widows: 1;" class=""><span class="s1"><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Sharon Bryan<span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span></span></div><br class=""><br class=""><div class="">
<div class=""><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class="">“Be joyful though you have considered all the facts.”</div><div style="orphans: 2; widows: 2;" class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space: pre;"> </span>- Wendell Berry</div></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
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