The Greatest Thief

There is a short series of small waterfalls a few miles up Lynn Camp Prong of the Little River where the water swirls for a second or two at the plunge-point of each one. I’ll often break here on a run and every time the motions of the water make me think of time standing still. Old Heraclitus said that “a man will never step into the same river twice” — it is true and likely eternally so but the swirls illustrate well the hope of defeating the wise Greek. If there is only becoming, then time, the greatest thief, overcomes all — and oh, how harsh that is. 

I’ve thought of this spot many times since little Sophia came along: “If only we could manage to keep the water swirling by twirling sticks therewith, my wife and Sophia and I. We could build our home in the summer there among the wildflowers and yes, perhaps outwit time.”

So the thought always goes — a fool’s dream but a human one.