I said to my soul, be still, and wait without hope
For hope would be hope for the wrong thing; wait without love
For love would be love of the wrong thing; there is yet faith
But the faith and the love and the hope are all in the waiting.
Wait without thought, for you are not ready for thought:
So the darkness shall be the light, and the stillness the dancing.

(From "East Coker" by T.S. Elliot)

A friend sent me that quote some weeks ago, and I’ve taped it to my printer. I see it every time I sit down to work or to communicate with the wide community of people who—like this friend—hold me and my son, Peter, even if they have not met him, in their hearts.

I have never been especially good at stillness, at waiting. From time to time I’ve tried meditation, but sooner or later I come springing out of it like a jack released from its box. I’m better at working, at doing, sometimes at fretting.