The Shipwreck Anniversary
The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald
Once again, inspiration provided by Jesse Paris Smith for my own reflections on the sudden loss of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Lake Superior - November 10, 1975.
“So light a candle, take a rose, remember someone, say their name out loud, and toss their remembrance rose into the shining sea with love.” - Jesse Paris Smith
That’s where I am today. Looking deep into the wreck that is my current situation. Immured in memory, I sit here on November 10 - 49 years after the 29 lives were lost. It’s worth reading Jesse’s musings - which, as usual, bring me to the point of recognizing how deeply intertwined all of our lives have become over the years. I was 12 in 1975 - just beginning my tenure in the Colonial Williamsburg Fifes and Drums as a Fifer - the next rank up from being a Private after having been a recruit. I was working my way through the Junior Corps repertoire and passing tunes to become a Corporal. 12 years old. It’s hard to remember that far back but pieces are coming back.
The images that come up are of a young man on the verge of learning some hard truths. Nothing is guaranteed and it can all come to an end at any moment - and this is still true. I’m listening now to John Kadlecik’s “Golden Wings” so I may as well share that with you all as well:
A quote from Rumi forms the chorus:
“Oh soul,
you worry too much.
You have seen your own strength.
You have seen your own beauty.
You have seen your golden wings.
Of anything less,
why do you worry?
You are in truth
the soul, of the soul, of the soul.”
It’s timely to be reminded that we worry too much - and that, in the end, we can transcend things that we experience and that we are really all on our own on this journey from dawn to dusk and back again but we can bear each other company.
In part, that’s what Harrowings is all about - bearing myself and anyone who wishes to read along some company as I dig into my Self and expose the layers and the way in which they and we intwine. Feeback, as always, is most welcome.