In my last Substack post about our new friends at The Spruceton Inn I proposed the belief that great work, lovingly pursued, is not about “bringing” something special to a new community but instead about partnering with the magic that is already there. I know, and yes I agree, that we still bring our whole selves to that place, and yet…
So this idea of magic has been lingering.
I was reminded of the time we dined at our new favorite restaurant in Grand Haven, The Unicorn Tavern. We were eating with our daughters, and we we savoring every last bite of our poutine. We inquired with our hostess about how delicious it was (I think it was one of the owners) and she simply replied by crossing both her index and middle fingers in a “hashtag” form and said, “hashtag, magic!”
Enough said!
#magic
My mind naturally drew the “obvious” link, given the context of our disturbing times (understatement of the century), between what has felt like the loss of hope for good to prevail and #magic. When hope seems silly, perhaps we look for the magic instead.
A while back I painted this large piece upon reflecting on the poem by Wendell Berry below:
Here’s the poem…
“III.
Yes, though hope is our duty
let us live a while without it
to show ourselves we can.
Let us see that, without hope,
we still are well. Let hopelessness
shrink us to our proper size.
Without it we are half as large
as yesterday, and the world
is twice as large. My small
place grows immense as I walk
upon it without hope.
Our springtime rue anemones
as I walk among them, hoping
not even to live, are beautiful
as Eden, and I their kinsman
am immortal in their moment.
Out of charity let us pray
for the great ones of politics
and war, the intellectuals,
scientists, and advisors,
the golden industrialists,
the CEO’s, that they too
may wake to a day without hope
that in their smallness they
may know the greatness of the Earth
and Heaven by which they so far
live, that they may see
themselves in their enemies,
and from their great wants fallen
know the small immortal
joys of beasts and birds.
”