Page 106 - 2015 Wardlaw Hartridge

I gaze at the Pacific and don't expect to ever see the heads on Easter Island,
though I guess at sunlight rippling the yellow grasses sloping to shore;
yesterday a doc ate grass in the orchard: it lifted its ears and stopped eating
when it sensed us watchingfrom
a glass hallway—in his sleep, a veteran
sweats, defusing a land mine.
On the globe, I mark the Battle of
the Coral Sea—no one frets at that now. A poem can never be too dark,
I nod and, staring at the Kenai, hear ice breaking up along an inlet;
yesterday a coyote trotted across my headlights and turned his head
but didn't break stride; that's how I want to live on this planet:
alive to a rabbit at a glass door— and flower ivhere there is no flower.
I wish you all happy and healthy wanderings as you move forward with your lives and hope you will share withus what you find.
102
With fond regards
~ Andy W ebster, Head of School
Dear Seniors,
Every year in this farewell letter, I try to find a poem that relates to your experience at Wardlaw-Hartridge, somethi ng that may cause you to stop and think about what lies behind you and ahead of you.
This year, I'd like to share a poem entitled, Unpacking
a Globe,byArthurSze.Heisknownforclosingwith
a thought about how to be alive to the experiences and the beauty of the world. I hope you will hold that closing in your mind as you venture forth around your globe, paying close attention to the connections JI that are important in your life, and not succumb to pressures that leave one too busy to take notice of all that makes the world wonderful.
M
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