Mr. Freeman is one of my favorite persons at the Hannan House Senior Learning Center. I've shown you his picture before but I never tire of photographing this 93 year-old gentleman. I respect him so highly, not just for his wisdom and humor, but for his positive outlook on life. This is the man who lost everything he owned last February in a fire that destroyed his home and porcelain-repair studio in Cambridge, Massachusetts and has gotten on with his life without a complaint.

When I read my dear friend Dorothy Walters' Kundalini Splendor blog entry for December 4, it made me think not only of Dorothy--a wise and wonderful 80 year-old spiritual poet--but of Mr. Freeman as well. Here is Dorothy's poem:

Even if You Have Trudged

It is never too late.
Even if you have trudged
through snow and ice
for a thousand miles
and still have not arrived.
Even if the map is lost
and the compass broken.
When the eagle who is
supposed to guide you
goes off on a tangent
of its own
and you know you are,
once again, deserted
do not fall into
the pit of despair.
It will return,
brighter than ever.
There will be feather tokens
falling down.

Nothing is irredeemable.
Nothing is lost forever.
Be guided by the stars.
Let the moonlight
direct your steps.

There will be a path
which will open
in the forest.
The treasure which is yours
is waiting.
Claim it.

Dorothy Walters

December 4, 2008