Happy the Man
by Horace
Happy the man, and happy he alone,
He who can call today his own:
He who, secure within, can say,
Tomorrow do thy worst, for I have lived today.
Be fair or foul or rain or shine
The joys I have possessed, in spite or fate, are mine.
Not Heaven itself upon the past has power,
But what has been, has been, and I have had my hour.“Happy the Man” by Horace, from Odes, Book III, xxix. Translation by John Dryden. Public domain.
When I saw this poem tonight, it made me ask myself the question; “How was my day today? Did I live today in a way that was in line with my own standards and aspirations?” I can happily say yes, for this day, for this moment. How about you? I think that it bears repeating (to ourselves) this question of what did I in fact do or not do today, and am I living up to my own expectations. No one else’s, but my own. This of course requires that I (and you!) have some clarity about what we want in this life, in this day, in this hour.
It also brings to mind the idea of ‘living’. So much of our lives can be rote and routine. Is this living? When Horace says, ‘the joys I have possessed…..’ I reflect on my joys today. To be awake, and to feel what is happening in my family, in my marriage, in my dreams, in my body. That is a joy, to be able to have such a full day and full life. I went today with my family to the Indiana Hooisers basketball game in Bloomington, IN. So it was a ‘special’ day. But the most joyful parts of the day were the everyday moments within it. Here are a few of the snapshots of gratitude that I noticed and felt today:
My daughter slipping under the railing and scooting across the aisle to visit her daddy. She just would go over and sit on his lap. This pleased both of them immensely (and me). What a great situation that she wants to be with him, that they enjoy each others company. They had on their matching IU crimson colored sweatshirts and she would just snuggle up to him for a minute or two and then come back to her seat by me. When I looked across the aisle their comfort with each other and her complete trust in him made me feel very happy.
Happy is the woman whose family is filled with Love.
Walking on the actual football field at IU Bloomington. A gate left ajar and a few people ahead of us on the winding path that leads down to the astro-turf. What crazy stuff that is. Artificial and shocking-bright in its red and green glory. It would feel like Christmas except it can’t because the sun is shining brilliantly, warming us after this long drear winter. The kids’ legs are pumping and flashing; running as fast they can, (certainly faster than Brian and I!). The joy of running in the sun on the fake grass. The oddity of it just makes it bigger than life and entertaining.
Happy (and grateful) is the woman whose whole family runs in the sun carefree and healthy.
Driving home in the car, it is dusk and the sunset is showing through the black limbs of the trees in the hedge rows along the highway. Blue-grey, silver, pink and those strong black vertical lines connecting heaven to earth. It is like lace filigree and the light keeps changing and the landscape flies by, a transient masterpiece of beauty.
Happy is the woman whose eyes are filled with such fair and shining light.
My wish to be together with my family……check.
My wish to listen attentively to my family…..4 hours in the car….check.
My love of holding my husbands hand….4 hours in the car…..check.
My thirst for things of beauty…..southern Indiana at dusk….check.
Other days perhaps meet other goals of mine, but I saw this poem and thought; “What a perfect day I had today, and how grateful I am that I ‘can call this day my own’.”
I hope that the next time your life offers you a beautiful day you too can recognize it and know that hour as your own, and appreciate it before it passes.
Namaste,
Lezlie
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