I had a very nice time Friday night at a fundraising dinner marking the 20th anniversary of the founding of the Hudson Valley Writers Center, a terrific organization that celebrates, teaches, and promotes writing. The event honored Ben Cheever (above, though murky)who is quite a good writer and a good friend of writers, and as worthy a recipient as I could think of. The event was held at the awesome Sleepy Hollow Country Club in a building which wa designed by Stanford White. It was my good fortune to share a table with Jerri Lynn Field of the Writers Center, Jeff Gordinier of Details and his charming wife (Jeff and I once worked for EW together), and some other good people. The entertainment was provided by Billy Collins, former poet laureate of the United States. I enjoyed the poems he read quite a bit, especially this one, called Adage.
Adage by Billy Collins
When it’s late at night and branches are banging against the windows, you might think that love is just a matter . of leaping out of the frying pan of yourself into the fire of someone else, but it’s a little more complicated than that. . It’s more like trading the two birds who might be hiding in that bush for the one you are not holding in your hand. . A wise man once said that love was like forcing a horse to drink but then everyone stopping thinking of him as wise. . Let us be clear about something. Love is not as simple as getting up on the wrong side of the bed wearing the emperor’s clothes. . No, it’s more like the way the pen feels after it has defeated the sword. It’s a little like the penny saved or the nine dropped stitches. . You look at me through the halo of the last candle and tell me love is an ill wind that has no turning, a road that blows no good, . but I am here to remind you, as our shadows tremble on the walls, that love is the early bird who is better late than never.