Up the side of a mountain, through a meadow, through an alleyway, through a cemetery.
Notable sights:
Brilliant autumn foliage
A wren *
Someone climbing a flatiron △
A young man, standing on a trail in the meadow, staring off at the city
Two men in boxing gloves, boxing one another in the meadow, on a slope just above me
A bunny with a mangled face and half its ear bitten off $
* I was thinking about death. It soon became too much for me to comprehend, and I started feeling afraid. I had never quite understood the phrase “god-fearing” before that moment. I came to realize I knew much, much less about the world than I thought I did. On the trail—I happened to be in the middle of a grove, alone—I prostrated myself on the dirt, thanked God for my life, and contemplated my tiny place in the world. My complete incapability to understand even a fraction of what I’d like to understand. After a few moments, I glanced up, and a wren flitted onto a branch. It stayed for only a moment. I felt I was blessed by an angel.
△ Still in the grove, but a little farther along the trail, and kneeling in the grass to the side, I watched the sun set over one of the flatirons. Shadows slowly moved up the length of the rock as the sun lowered. A barely-visible fleck, which I perceived to be no larger than the tip of a pin, moved down the rock with care. I was struck by the climber’s audaciousness. This was the first time in my life I felt humility without shame. I allowed myself to sit, without self-consciousness, in awe.
$ I took the alleys between 8th Street and Grant Place back down to Michael’s house. A bunny hopped just out of my way as I walked. I stopped to greet the bunny and noticed it had half an ear apparently bitten off, and some sort of (healed) wound on its face. I felt despair and pity for the bunny and feebly tried to communicate to it that I loved it: “Oh, Bunny, you poor, sweet thing. I love you. I love you. Do you understand me? I love you.” I couldn’t help but imagine the pain and fear it must have endured to have sustained such injuries. The fear was the worst part. I didn’t want it to be afraid. I wish I did something more than just stand there and pity it, but what should I have done?