Back when Heron Dance was a print publication, we would send free subscriptions to anyone who asked. One was H.F. Noyes, who described himself as a hermit poet living in a remote area of Greece. One day received this letter from him.
Dear Rod,
Thanks for publishing my Emerson quote. I have another favorite, from Henry David Thoreau:
Talk of mysteries! Think of our life in nature—daily to be shown matter, to come in contact with it—rocks, trees, wind on our cheeks! the solid earth! the actual world!...Contact! Contact! Who are we? Where are we?
- From The Maine Woods, Ktaadn (1848)
I am most grateful that you have continued to send me Heron Dance. But I’m 88 now, and there’s nobody to tell you to end your mailings when I’m gone.
The whirling dance
Of the autumn leaves…
To live and die, how good!
- H.F. Noyes
“Nature is not a place to visit. It is home.”
With warm thoughts
and every good wish,
HF Noyes,
Greece
I later discovered that he died four years after sending me that letter. He had been a war hero in WWII -- a US Marine and member of the elite Scouts and Raiders. After the war he obtained a Doctorate in Counselling, and trained in Gestalt Therapy and Jungian Psychoanalysis. He practiced psychotherapy in New York City for 25 years, retiring in 1970 to live a simple life in Politia, outside Athens, Greece.
More on Mr. Noyes here.
Recent Projects And Random Thoughts
We’ve recently come across a small stash of back issues of the old print publication Heron Dance. Most are gone, but there are still a few left. More here.
The new art journal, Nurturing The Song Within, explores the inner work that underlies creative work, and creating a unique life.
Future Zoom meetings for readers are cancelled for the foreseeable future in order to focus on other projects. Maybe in the fall we'll get them going again. You can keep up to date on future plans for the Readers group here.
