{"id":53,"date":"2014-08-17T17:38:30","date_gmt":"2014-08-17T22:38:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/?p=53"},"modified":"2014-09-08T12:09:17","modified_gmt":"2014-09-08T17:09:17","slug":"the-calf-path","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/the-calf-path\/","title":{"rendered":"The Calf Path"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is a favorite poem of Bill Schmidt\u2019s. He created the form of a calf out of it, as it begins with a calf wandering home, as we all are doing–whether we know it or not. We leave it to you to decide what it means to you\u2014and to our race consciousness. Happy summer!
\n(For easier reading, the poem is offered in normal text below the calf.)<\/p>\n

\"calf_path400\"<\/a><\/p>\n

One day, through the primeval wood,
\nA calf walked home, as good calves should;
\nBut made a trail all bent askew,
\nA crooked trail as all calves do.
\nSince then three hundred years have fled,
\nAnd, I infer, the calf is dead.
\nBut still he left behind his trail,
\nAnd thereby hangs my moral tale.<\/p>\n

The trail was taken up next day,
\nBy a lone dog that passed that way.
\nAnd then a wise bell-wether sheep,
\nPursued the trail o’er vale and steep;
\nAnd drew the flock behind him too,
\nAs good bell-wethers always do.
\nAnd from that day, o’er hill and glade.
\nThrough those old woods a path was made.<\/p>\n

And many men wound in and out,
\nAnd dodged, and turned, and bent about;
\nAnd uttered words of righteous wrath,
\nBecause ’twas such a crooked path.
\nBut still they followed – do not laugh –
\nThe first migrations of that calf.
\nAnd through this winding wood-way stalked,
\nBecause he wobbled when he walked.<\/p>\n

This forest path became a lane,
\nthat bent, and turned, and turned again.
\nThis crooked lane became a road,
\nWhere many a poor horse with his load,
\nToiled on beneath the burning sun,
\nAnd traveled some three miles in one.
\nAnd thus a century and a half,
\nThey trod the footsteps of that calf.<\/p>\n

The years passed on in swiftness fleet,
\nThe road became a village street;
\nAnd this, before men were aware,
\nA city’s crowded thoroughfare;
\nAnd soon the central street was this,
\nOf a renowned metropolis;
\nAnd men two centuries and a half,
\nTrod in the footsteps of that calf.<\/p>\n

Each day a hundred thousand rout,
\nFollowed the zigzag calf about;
\nAnd o’er his crooked journey went,
\nThe traffic of a continent.
\nA Hundred thousand men were led,
\nBy one calf near three centuries dead.
\nThey followed still his crooked way,
\nAnd lost one hundred years a day;<\/p>\n

For thus such reverence is lent,
\nTo well established precedent.
\nA moral lesson this might teach,
\nWere I ordained and called to preach;
\nFor men are prone to go it blind,
\nAlong the calf-paths of the mind;
\nAnd work away from sun to sun,
\nTo do what other men have done.<\/p>\n

They follow in the beaten track,
\nAnd out and in, and forth and back,
\nAnd still their devious course pursue,
\nTo keep the path that others do.
\nThey keep the path a sacred grove,
\nAlong which all their lives they move.
\nBut how the wise old wood gods laugh,
\nWho saw the first primeval calf!<\/p>\n

Ah! many things this tale might teach –
\nBut I am not ordained to preach.<\/p>\n

\"calf_path2\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Here is a favorite poem of Bill Schmidt\u2019s. He created the form of a calf out of it, as it begins with a calf wandering home, as we all are doing–whether we know it or not. We leave it to you to decide what it means to you\u2014and to our race consciousness. Happy summer! (For […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-53","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-life"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":151,"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53\/revisions\/151"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/nancyherrick.com\/notes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}