Monday, May 3, 2010

Best American essays II

"For years I have had a recurrent dream. I take
a road that runs toward the west. It is summer; I
pass by a strange summer forest, in which there are
mysterious beings, though I know that, on a whole, they
are shy and benign. If I am fortunate and find the way,
I arrive at a wonderful river. We go in swimming; it is
miles away from anywhere. We plunge in the smooth
flowing pools. We make our way to the middle of the
stream and climb up on the pale rounded gray stones
and sit naked in the sun and the air, while the river
glides away below us. And I know that it is the place
for which I have always longed, the place of wildness
and freedom, to find which is the height of what one may
hope for- the place of unalloyed delight."

the old stone house
Edmund Wilson

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