Under the wide and starry sky

by chuckofish

We got more snow yesterday and it was very cold. I tell you I am not really ready for this…winter! October was balmy and November wasn’t bad, so digging out the Barbour storm coat was not on my radar. And gloves! Where are my gloves?

At least when it is snowing, it is very quiet in my neighborhood. No leaf blowers!

Anyway, I got a pedicure yesterday, which is something I do now regularly as a result of my chemo-induced neuropathy and getting old. I also scheduled a big trash pickup so that we can get rid of some of the junk in our garage to make room for my SUV which takes up a lot more room than my Mini. And I made a list of all the things I need to get new license plates before heading to the DMV. Oh joy. But I do like that checking-things-off-my-list feeling.

Today we remember Robert Louis Stevenson, Scottish author and poet, who died on this day in 1894 while straining to open a bottle of wine for his wife.

He is buried on a spot overlooking the sea in Samoa where he lived at the time.

Based on Stevenson’s poem “Requiem”, the following epitaph is inscribed on his tomb:

Under the wide and starry sky
Dig the grave and let me lie
Glad did I live and gladly die
And I laid me down with a will
This be the verse you grave for me
Here he lies where he longed to be
Home is the sailor home from the sea
And the hunter home from the hill

I always hear John Wayne’s voice when I read that, because, as you recall, he recites the poem at the funeral of two sailors (Slug and Squarehead) in They Were Expendable (1945). It is a great scene. The Duke does it perfectly and to great effect–

They were just a couple of blue jackets who did their job.

So a toast to Robert Louis Stevenson and to John Wayne and to all the sailors and hunters home from the hill.

Have a good day! Read some poetry.