From my favourite Roncesvalles fruitier

What are we seizing exactly?

It’s hard not to be thrilled by the baby-faced Robin Williams inspiring the youth: “Seize the day, boys. Make your lives extraordinary.”

But the “carpe” in carpe diem doesn’t technically translate as “seize.” More precisely, it means “pluck.”

What if you “carpe-d” not so much by pressing forward faster, higher, and stronger?

[What if you “carpe-d” by stopping, stopping, stopping? Noticing what’s ripe and what’s ready.  Plucking it, savoring it, relishing it.]

I’m remembering William Carlos Williams’ poem “This Is Just To Say:”

I have eaten

the plums

that were in

the icebox

and which

you were probably

saving

for breakfast

Forgive me

they were delicious

so sweet

and so cold

A relationship, a thing you’re creating, a moment of progress, a moment of set back, a vista, a ritual.

“delicious | so sweet | and so cold.”

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