In One Place

As one who has lived for the past four decades (and for much of the previous two) within the same square mile of suburban demiparadise, I am naturally an advocate of staying put in one place. These lines by a great poet of place, Constantin Cavafy, sum up perfectly how, by staying put, we gradually transform and enrich the place we are in, as it transforms and enriches us...

In the Same Space
The setting of houses, cafés, the neighbourhood
that I’ve seen and walked through years on end:
I created you while I was happy, while I was sad,
with so many incidents, so many details.
And, for me, the whole of you has been transformed into feeling.

I came across this poem in a recent post on the wonderful First Known When Lost, a blog that mixes really well chosen poems with equally well chosen pictures to explore various themes (the Cavafy came from  Staying Put). It's been full of discoveries - and welcome rediscoveries - for me, and I recommend it warmly to all who browse here.