Friday, April 5, 2019
For more than forty years I have had the privilege to know Else. I will always be inspired by Else’s warmth, sincerity, creativity, intelligence, and her capacity to reflect with deep insight. I remain inspired by the many, many conversations we shared about literature, so I will quote from a poem, both because I remember our discussions about it, and because it evokes, for me, so much of the wisdom Else brought to the world:
“What the Thrush Said” by John Keats
O Thou whose face hath felt the Winter’s wind,
Whose eye has seen the snow clouds hung in mist,
And the black elm tops ‘mong the freezing stars,
To thee the spring will be a harvest time…
‘O fret not after knowledge – I have none,
And yet my song comes native with the warmth.'
'O fret not after knowledge – I have none,
And yet the evening listens.’
He who saddens at the thought of idleness cannot be idle,
And he’s awake who thinks himself asleep.
The thrush’s wisdom reminds me of Else’s re-telling of a Bible story, the one where Jesus walks away from the Pharisees and asks his disciples to “Let the little children come onto Me.”
On March 3, 2019, her 92nd birthday, when surrounded by her family, Else’s smile, and the radiant sparkle in her eyes, brought the Light of that story into the room. For this, too, I will always be grateful to Else.
Pat Andres
