Short Trip to the Edge: Where Earth Meets Heaven--A Pilgrimage

275 Pages·2007·1.096 MB·English

by  Scott Cairns

Short Trip
to the Edge
Where Earth Meets Heaven—A Pilgrimage
a a a

Scott Cairns
For Jackson Browne, whose songs during the seventies
made me want to become a poet.
For Annie Dillard, my teacher, whose prose during
the seventies showed me how to be one.
For Richard Howard, my friend, whose loving attention
to the word I now recognize as true veneration.
With gratitude to the University of Missouri Research
Council, whose research leave afforded me time to
travel and to write.
With love to Marcia, Elizabeth, and Benjamin, whose
patience and sacrifice allowed me to commence a
long-desired journey.
Se t ti n g Ou t
In time, even the slowest pilgrim might
articulate a turn. Given time enough,
the slowest pilgrim—even he—might
register some small measure of belated
progress. The road was, more or less, less
compelling than the hut, but as the benefit
of time allowed the hut’s distractions to attain
a vaguely musty scent, and all the novel
knickknacks to acquire a fine veneer of bone-
white dust, the road became then somewhat more
attractive; and as the weather made a timely
if quite brief concession, the pilgrim took this all
to be an open invitation to set out.

Contents

PART ONE: The Far 1
1
The boat is the Axion Estin, and I am finally… 3
2
Before this, my only experiences with the Holy
Mountain had… 19
3
Along the way to Philotheou, the trail skirted a small… 39
4
Our small room at Philotheou—holding but two
narrow beds and… 52
5
Our second Divine Liturgy at Philotheou continues
to haunt me. 64
6
Father Damianos is, I’m guessing, a man in his late… 80
7
Alone again, I grinned to discover that much of the… 95
8
Along the way to Saint Paul’s, the trail cut into… 106
PART TWO: The Far and the Near 121
9
I was glad to get home, glad to be back… 123
10
Father Damianos was washing cups in the archondariki
kitchen when… 143
11
The hike took me, for the most part, along winding… 161
12
Father Matthew caught up with me after trapeza to say… 176
13
I had pretty much decided as early as September that,… 195
PART THREE: The Near 211
14
My son, Ben, agreed to join me on my third… 213
15
Ben was quiet for most of the hour it took… 231
16
The journey to prayer, so far as I can tell,… 254
A Pilgrim’s Glossary 259
About the Author
Credits
Cover
Copyright
About the Publisher
pa r t o n e
a a a

The Far