P.1 Message No 2. July 30, 1964
#10 – Cambria Pines (not Downing St.)
Dearest Patricia: You’d never guess what is “looking” at me across the corner of the writing desk in my cabin! It’s a pink carnation, now a little the worse for wear but still a thing of beauty – even though it be true that “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder.” In this case it’s also in the eyes of the one for whom this particular carnation is a symbol. It was sweet of you to give it to me. As I look at it I think of you as you and Connie prepare for and anticipate your joyous weekend.
Thoughts on looking at the photo on the postcard that’s message no 1.-
Streaking through limitless space
On the incredible wings of light,
Through billions of years in ages past
And yet more billions still to come,
Energy from the countless stars,
Of which our sun is one,
That people the vastness of the
Heavens, powers the Universe!
Galaxies spin majestically and
silently,
Or “noisily” as our radio Telescopes declare.
The cosmic inhabitants of our universe
Race outward in ev’r-expanding
Patterns
Through billions of light years
Of space and time.
And on our little earth –
Tiny speck in the enormous
Reaches of the Milky Way,
Sun energy moves all things.
Thronging atoms, ions, molecules, -
Inert and helpless in themselves
Respond to magic impulse from the sun.
Unite in diverse ways
To nourish every living thing,
Become their sun and substance,
Their breath of life, the while
They grow, diversify, evolve
And reproduce,
Baffle, frustrate, and inspire
In giving man.
Nothing escapes the driving universal force!
The countless molecules of
Atmospheric gases
Swirl round the earth in
Currents, winds, cyclones, or hurricanes
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Or, gentler than the zephyr’s breath,
Await their time in silent calm,
While seas grow glassy still
And on their mirror surfaces
Show distant stars as points of light.
Again, they lash the oceans in
Demonic fury
Hurling waves that gnaw the shores
Reducing them to sediments
And cutting continents to bits
To lie for ages ‘neath the restless deep.
Throughout all this creating
Scenes of Ever-changing beauty to regale
The mind of sentient and
Appreciative man;
To bring him to his knees
In awe and wonder
As so how such things may be!
The wonder of the universe is truly great, but no part more so than the beauty that’s a lovely waist(?)!
Many scenes before that in message #1 there be, along the rockbound coast from Carmel to Cambria. But there’s only one Patricia! And my wonder over this shall never end.
And now, dear one, if I’m to read a few of Bertrand Russell’s pungent pages “ere sleep comes down to close my weary eyes” (my apologies to Paul Lawrence Dunbar) I’ll have to bring message #2 to a close. I’ll think of you – as I’ll miss you (I have so much to learn from you) every day where’er my mind is free for any kind of reverie, until my return. I’m looking forward eagerly to our evening in Wonderland with the Ice Follies, something as near to Fairyland as you’ll ever hope to see.
Affectionately
Carl
Dr. Carl Duncan and Patricia Whiting Collection (SJSU)
