Learn from the mistakes
of others.
You can't live long enough to make them all yourself.
LI i
Tuco considered Arlu's note.
She wrote of her recent conversation with Arlene.
Baffled, a tangent, a recurring theme,
"Search
and be born
again."
Arelene had said, "Nothing happens unless first a dream."¹
And, without thinking, Arlu replied,
"Nothing happens until something moves."²
She didn't need to turn and look to know she mispoke.
You
must learn from the
mistakes of others.
You can't possibly live long enough to make them all yourself.
LI ii
It is a curious thing, these mistakes we see
in others more than
in ourselves.
Tuco refolded the note and put it back in the envelope.
He knew without reading more
that Arlu tried to take it back without saying she was sorry.
Sorry would be obvious across her face.
Sometimes saying it helps
other times
it freezes the chasm
wide
unyielding.
There is mispeaking and also, as the saying goes,
"Speak when you are angry
and you will make the best speech you'll ever
regret."³
Oh, how well he knew that consequence of speaking too well.
Life was meant to be
lived, and curiosity must be kept alive.
One must
never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life.
LI iii
Tuco turned toward the mountain line,
the slow rise of foothills nearby
and then the rising Santa Catalinas beyond.
The sun rises from behind them, splendid spectacle!
He returns to it each year,
home.
Then, soon,
it is time for another journey.
The valley changes between visits
sometimes much change
sometimes little.
He used to feel disheartened by the changes
but now they aren't felt as personally.
And after that final no
there comes a yes
And on that yes the future world depends.
LI iv
As Tuco pulled the note from the envelope,
he remembered something that Arlu sometimes said,
"Imagination is more important than knowledge..."²
The changes may say "no!"
but the valley always says "yes!"
each time he returns,
each time the sun rises
over those mountains.
He always hears that yes,
even half way around the world.
Each day
the sun rises
and the valley speaks
yes!
This, Tuco knows.
In his heart, he knows.
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