Last of the Happiest Men on Earth

I've settled
in I guess, to wait life out until

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">a good idea hands me- no awards me,
the

 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">life I think I'd rather be living.
Tonight it's

cool and November and again the gospel

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">that I will one day
barter for a lifestyle

escapes me as easily as a dog off the

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0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">leash, not because I 'm too slow- I'm a
fast

runner, ask anyone- but because I refuse to

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0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">leave my chair. Like many of my peers, I

feel
my life is waiting with my name on it

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">somewhere else in Vast
America, a package

that must be signed for, and it will come

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0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">eventually, of it's own accord, as the
dogs

do, when they grow a little tired, a little

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0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">hungry, a little bored. And tonight I
feel

America and Americans and my own

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in
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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">nationality, acute sharp edged- as Walt
Felt

It, as Kerouac Felt It. But for me there are

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt"> style="mso-spacerun: yes"> 

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">no voices singing,
there are no endless fields

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">or children crying in the land where
they

 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">allow such things- I've certainly seen
these

things before, but I don't care for their pat

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in
0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">sentimentality now. This nation I see
tonight

offers me no vistas and no moaning swell. It

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in
0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">extends only as far as the light from
the front

porch, that falls down the stairs and down the

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style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">hill and down the woods to the lake,
ending at

the bases of the trees, exhausting itself in the

 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">brambles and weeds. It's this edge that
has

my
attention tonight. I'm watching the edge

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in
0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">and watching the dogs as they come
bounding

and playing, racing one another into the

class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN: 0in 0in
0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">light, then vanishing again, absolutely

unashamed to pretend to be wild animals-

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0pt"> 

style="MARGIN: 0in 0in 0pt">even if they know nothing about
wilderness

really, or what it means.