Weekly Message from Head of School 2022/10/30-2022/11/05
Dear Keystone Community,
How was your week? This week I heard a great student presentation about the importance of sleep and challenged the 8th and 9th graders to sleep a little more (maybe 15-30 minutes) each night for a week and keep track of how they felt. We all know that sleep is essential for high mental and physical performance and well-being, and yet we are all often tempted to do just a little more in the evenings or get up a little earlier in the mornings.
As the seasons change, our bodies need time to shift to the new air and we are wise to listen to the rhythms of nature, to look for clues about how to live.
With this in mind, here’s a poem about this time of year from one of my favorite American poets, Mary Oliver. I invite you to tune into your own “songs of Autumn”-- to breath in this refreshingly cool air and delight in these high blue skies and prepare your body and mind for the days ahead.
Warmly,
Emily McCarren
Song for Autumn
In the deep fall
don’t you imagine the leaves think how
comfortable it will be to touch
the earth instead of the
nothingness of air and the endless
freshets of wind? And don’t you think
the trees themselves, especially those with mossy,
warm caves, begin to think
of the birds that will come – six, a dozen – to sleep
inside their bodies? And don’t you hear
the goldenrod whispering goodbye,
the everlasting being crowned with the first
tuffets of snow? The pond
vanishes, and the white field over which
the fox runs so quickly brings out
its blue shadows. And the wind pumps its
bellows. And at evening especially,
the piled firewood shifts a little,
longing to be on its way.
by Mary Oliver
