west with the nightI have learned that if you must leave
a place that you have lived in and loved
and where all your yesterdays
are buried deep...leave it any way except a slow way
leave it the fastest way you cannever turn back.
and never believe that an hour
you remember is a better hour
because its dead.passed years seem safe ones, vanquished ones,
while the future lives in a cloud,
formidable from a distance.the clouds clear as you enter it

excerpt by

beryl markham
"west with the night"

if only i could be so brave.
but I can't leave new york just yet.

good bye to all that

manhatta