now the oaks are white

... I have no use for words today. I just want to be with you, in your presence, see you, sense you, feel the fact of you in the same room with me, both of us sharing space in a room, moving about, regarding each other, tentatively touching hands -
the skies have been darkening and though it's only 3 I've been turning on lamps around the house, and now as I write to you a sudden squall has come up -

Cohesion

From the Emily Dickinson Lexicon:
The Emily Dickinson lexicon is a dictionary of the words in Emily Dickinson's collected poems… Noah Webster's 1844 American Dictionary of the English Language is… important… because Dickinson employed Webster's etymologies and definitions in composing her poems...

Lexical cohesion: words that are tied to each other by meaning or reference.

On Warren Street early that Sunday morning there on the sidewalk was a tiny paper Christmas bulb, and a step away, an even tinier snowflake. I stooped to pick them up. There was a pretty cellophane candy wrapper too, but it was Sunday, so I left it there. Postage for your card, and glue in the first drawer I pulled.

… Not surprisingly, "bending" is a synonymous gloss in the definition of stooping in Webster's [1844] dictionary; and concepts of bending forward, inclining, leaning, yielding, and submitting are shared by these Webster entries:

Stooping, ppr. Bending the body forward; yielding; submitting; condescending; inclining.

Stoop, vi. [Saxon stupian . . . ]
1. To bend the body downward and forward . . .
2. To bend or lean forward; to incline forward in standing or walking
3. To yield; to submit; to bend by compulsion
4. to descend from rank or dignity; to condescend
5. To yield; to be inferior.

Bend, v.i. To be crooked; to crook, or be curving.
2. To incline; to lean or turn
5. To bow or be submissive.

Even without a dictionary it seems clear that "stooping," "stooped," and "bend" are synonyms… What may not be so obvious is that Webster's etymology of the word love includes a primary sense of "leaning forward," so that to stoop, to bend, and to love are lexically cohesive…

Love, v.t. [Saxon lufian, luvian . . . See Lief. The sense is probably to be prompt, free, willing, from leaning, advancing or drawing forward.]

***
Paris, by Nerissa & Katryna Nields

And I dreamed last night
Of how the moonlight shone in your old room...

And every now and then there was a word I understood...
And I wrote it down and put it on a postcard
And sent it to you.

Runaway Glorias

Getting myself together to take Amtrak down to the city this afternoon. Have listened to the PetShopBoys Xmas song several times this morning, dancing to it while putting away laundry and packing my bag. That song makes me happy.

I enjoyed the service last night, though I wouldn't say that it was ecumenical in any way, except from a missionary point of view. It was all quite straight-up Episcopal, which I'm not, though it was interesting to participate in the service, to consider the words as I read them, and to reflect on their ramifications in the earthly sphere. I have a problem with the word "righteousness," for example. A great deal of mischief stems from that over-certain and uncompromising word.

I enjoyed the carol singing, though as an alto I have a problem with the standard keys that hymns and carols are played in, geared for tenors and tremulous sopranos and awkward for most others. I loved the organist - he rocked. I think it was on Angels We Have Heard on High, the whole melismatic Glooooooooooooooooria part - the organist ripped and chugged and sped up and lurched then slowed then sped up again and crazily crashed all through it, the placid and obedient chorus valiantly keeping pace. The organist did the bangup slightly differently in each of the repeated choruses, one exuberant musical near-train wreck after another (I say 'near' because the organist always managed to recover the runaway train and meet back up with the chorus which had already arrived at the station). So Hudson! I think it was wackily intentional, and it was very funny, very creative & spontaneous I thought. Bravo, organist! for taking liberties. I too, took liberties, and sometimes tried to sing harmony, or flourishes that I'm accustomed to from my King's College Choir Christmas albums. Well, isn't that a point of Christmas - that we of various voices should try to make a joyful noise and to harmonize?

I'm spending the coming week in my former upstairs neighbors' apartment, looking after their cat and otherwise catching up on cultural offerings in the city. I will post when I can from the little branch library around the corner, on the days that it's open.

I hate to sign off. Only connect.

No, no righteousness. Love! Love!