Summer is definitely gone. Birds gather in bare tree branches, like countless dots, sounding loud and nervous, making us – occasional passengers – feel nervous too. Geese, many of them, floating on the river, stationary as rocks – a perfect still picture. There are still lavenders in the field on the trailside – some dried grasses with tiny gray, purplish leaves examined upon close. It’s a bit surprising to see how close the lily garden is to the marsh land. You have to imagine lotus flowers now. Meanwhile, the marsh land looks much more open and quite beautiful with tall cattails shooting out brown fruity spikes between long tapering leaves – it’s a beauty of solemn sort.
Read more You see, the river is rich and can feed the garden to grow, but how would you expect the garden to contain a river? It’d be most unnatural to engineer the river’s free flow into a small lily pond. My niece got married on Sunday. Almost thirty years ago returning home from college in summer, I was sitting on a bus, excited about to meet her for the first time, and anxiously wondering how her life would unfold. She has grown up to be a remarkable young woman today. After studying in Canada, she returned home and is now teaching in a prestigious private school. She loves it and works hard. I am very proud of her, and of course I want her to be happy. She does look radiant with happiness in a red Chinese dress. I have not met the guy; he looks handsome on the photo. I wanted to celebrate the day with something fresh – I am very tired of the old stuff (Penelope’s Song sung by poets and women generations after generations and even the new Nobel Laureate has to remind us again). I visited Eastern Market but could not find flowers (Anyway, that might not be a good idea. I used to have fresh flowers all the time in the office and at home, but decided not to buy them a long while ago – those things are too fragile to fit into life). So, I went on to the Anacostia River and Kenilworth Aquatic Gardens. But perhaps all my worries are unnecessary. I should have faith in the young generation, and I know from my teaching experience how so much better young people are and in all ways. Time may eventually deliver a solution to all the world’s problems, and we just have to wait. After all, the world is theirs.
