Friday, August 8, 2008

read along part 2



“As the herd [impala, wildebeest, zebra] moved it became a carpet of rust-brown and grey and dull red. It was not like a herd of cattle or of sheep because it was wild, and it carried with it the stamp of wilderness and the freedom of a land still more a possession of Nature than of men. To see ten thousand animals untamed and not branded with the symbols of human commerce is like scaling an unconquered mountain for the first time, or like finding a forest without roads or footpaths, or the blemish of an axe. You know then what you had always been told—that the world once lived and grew without adding machines and newsprint and brick-walled streets and the tyranny of clocks.”

(also see August 4 posting)

- From “West with the Night” by Beryl Markham about her experiences in Africa. Published in 1942


2 comments:

Vickie said...

"the tyranny of clocks"--a phrase that describes what drives our lives. Don't you just love good literature.

Stephen Lyn Bales said...

Hello Vickie.

It's good to hear from you. "West with the Night" is a wonderful book, writen by a woman who grew up in Africa and was one of that continent's first bush pilots. Her life was quite an adventure.