If It Was A Sin For You

I'm Afraid That My Wife Picked Up A Number Of Colorful Expressions From The Yanks And Such, Frank Offered, With A Nervous Smile. True, I Said, Gritting My Teeth As I Wrapped A Water-soaked Napkin About My Hand. Men Tend To Be Very Colorful When You're Picking Shrapnel Out Of Them.

He Leaned Close, Rubbing His Bearded Cheek Against My Ear. 'and How About A Sweet Kiss, Now, For The Brave Lads Of The Clan Mackenzie? Tulach Ard!' Erin Go Bragh,' I Said Rudely, And Pushed With All My Strength.

There Was A Feeling, Not Sudden, But Complete, As Though I Had Been Given A Small Object To Hold Unseen In My Hands. Precious As Opal, Smooth As Jade, Weighty As A River Stone, More Fragile Than A Bird's Egg. Infinitely Still, Live As The Root Of Creation. Not A Gift, But A Trust. Fiercely To Cherish, Softly To Guard. The Words Spoke Themselves And Disappeared Into The Groined Shadows Of The Roof.

Perhaps It Was Only That The Sense Of Reaching Out To Something Larger Than Yourself Gives You Some Feeling That There Is Something Larger - And There Really Has To Be, Because Plainly You Aren't Sufficient To The Situation.

I Read All The Time. People Ask, 'do You Read While You Work?' And I Say, 'i Better.' I Take Two Or Three Years To Finish One Of My Enormous Books, And I Can't Go That Long Without Reading.