One might have thought that as time passes the heart might harden as arteries harden and the sense of loss grow less acute as the five familiar senses most certainly tend to do. But it is not so. Eyes grow dull with age but griefs do not grow dull. And, naturally, as one gets old and then older still the occasions for feeling grief multiply.
The passage of time between sadnesses brought on by losing close family or beloved friends now quickens almost by the month. This week I have read a lovely sonnet by W S Merwin which is a meditation on how quickly time passes measured by the seasons which we in the tropics do not know but the changing beauty of which I am glad to have experienced a few times. We think fields will always be