Pine Cone Celebration

He knows I'm not a morning being, so Mr. Fun honors me with coffee early every day. This morning when my phone alarm woke me a little later than yesterday, because I don't go to the classroom on Wednesday, I quieted the alarm and walked to the top of the stairs. I politely called out, "Any coffee down there?" He is always awake and down the stairs long before me. His immediate response was positively excited.

Moments later up the stairs he came, with not just a hot pot of French pressed coffee, but he was saying something about having a "chosen one" for me.

In my sleepy fog I said, "Huh?" and he presented me with this solitary pine cone and began retelling me the lines from Robinson Jeffer's poem "Una," which Jeffers had written for his wife and given it her name:

"While the stars go over the sleepless ocean,
And sometime after midnight I'll pluck you a wreath
Of chosen ones"

The poem's first four stanzas are dark and troubling. In the last stanza Jeffers focuses inward to celebrate the relationship he has with his wife, and he writes,

To-night, dear,
Let's forget all that, that and the war,
And enisle ourselves a little beyond time,
You with this Irish whiskey, I with red wine
While the stars go over the sleepless ocean,
And sometime after midnight I'll pluck you a wreath
Of chosen ones; we'll talk about love and death,
Rock-solid themes, old and deep as the sea,
Admit nothing more timely, nothing less real
While the stars go over the timeless ocean,
And when they vanish we'll have spent the night well.

The poem's entirety is here. We have been to visit the Jeffer's house in Carmel many times. Some of his poetry is quite lovely.

With the new day waiting on the front porch, our morning together was short, but the coffee and pine cone started us with a celebration.

Good night from Southern California.
Rosie (& Mr. Fun), aka Carol


P.S. The magazine Artful Blogging, they need to do a feature article on Blipfoto. It is the most artful blog of all.

P.P.S. Thanks for all the comments on yesterday's strawberry and the Pacific Ocean's shoreline the day before.