Walker Percy (1916-1990)
“Above all, we see the man in all his shifting moods, ‘the gracious, easy, almost avuncular manner straining against a powerful, furious, intensity, an almost furious energy.’ Here is the dark tragedy, the humor, the hard-earned wisdom of a life whose outward calm concealed an internal drama — an unrelenting fight against hopelessness and despair.” — Pilgrim in the Ruins — Jay Tolson
Alone, when we wait for the wake of the light;
alone, when we sit on the curbs of this life.
Alone, when we wrastle shadow and cloak:
the press of the night,
the absence of Hope.
Alone, when we open our arms to the crowd,
fall into their banter, short-sighted and loud.
Separate and lonely our walk through the wood,
our search to be easy, our fight to be good.
And lonely, yet never so deeply as when
we search for the ultimate shape of our skin.
— Arthur Mample