{"id":1853,"date":"2010-06-05T12:20:55","date_gmt":"2010-06-05T16:20:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/?p=1853"},"modified":"2010-06-06T14:45:00","modified_gmt":"2010-06-06T18:45:00","slug":"rites-of-passage","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/?p=1853","title":{"rendered":"Rites of Passage"},"content":{"rendered":"

From my sketchbook. It\u2019s the season of graduations, and weddings, and the perpetual hankie in the hand and lump in the throat.<\/p>\n

\"SidwellGrad\"<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

In her room at the prow of the house<\/span><\/address>\n
Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden,<\/span><\/address>\n
My daughter is writing a story.<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I pause in the stairwell, hearing<\/span><\/address>\n
From her shut door a commotion of typewriter-keys<\/span><\/address>\n
Like a chain hauled over a gunwale.<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

Young as she is, the stuff<\/span><\/address>\n
Of her life is a great cargo, and some of it heavy:<\/span><\/address>\n
I wish her a lucky passage.<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

But now it is she who pauses,<\/span><\/address>\n
As if to reject my thought and its easy figure.<\/span><\/address>\n
A stillness greatens, in which<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

The whole house seems to be thinking,<\/span><\/address>\n
And then she is at it again with a bunched clamor<\/span><\/address>\n
Of strokes, and again is silent.<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

I remember the dazed starling<\/span><\/address>\n
Which was trapped in that very room, two years ago;<\/span><\/address>\n
How we stole in, lifted a sash<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And retreated, not to affright it;<\/span><\/address>\n
And how for a helpless hour, through the crack of the door,<\/span><\/address>\n
We watched the sleek, wild, dark<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And iridescent creature<\/span><\/address>\n
Batter against the brilliance, drop like a glove<\/span><\/address>\n
To the hard floor, or the desk-top,<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

And wait then, humped and bloody,<\/span><\/address>\n
For the wits to try it again; and how our spirits<\/span><\/address>\n
Rose when, suddenly sure,<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It lifted off from a chair-back,<\/span><\/address>\n
Beating a smooth course for the right window<\/span><\/address>\n
And clearing the sill of the world.<\/span><\/address>\n

<\/span><\/p>\n

It is always a matter, my darling,<\/span><\/address>\n
Of life or death, as I had forgotten.\u00a0 I wish<\/span><\/address>\n
What I wished you before, but harder.<\/span><\/address>\n

\u2014Richard Wilbur<\/em><\/p>\n

\"CakeRedRoses\"<\/a>Jude<\/p>\n


\n<\/em><\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

From my sketchbook. It\u2019s the season of graduations, and weddings, and the perpetual hankie in the hand and lump in the throat. In her room at the prow of the house Where light breaks, and the windows are tossed with linden, My daughter is writing a story. I pause in the stairwell, hearing From herRead more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[47,23,17,19,3],"class_list":["post-1853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sketchbook","tag-dc","tag-festival","tag-penink","tag-poem","tag-watercolor"],"post_mailing_queue_ids":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1853"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1859,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1853\/revisions\/1859"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eachdayisacelebration.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}