Beginners Faith in Thi

His approaching 80th birthday turns the author to reflecting on his reverence for nature. Hay (The Great Beach) first reminisces about his childhood in New Hampshire and Manhattan (he sees the latter as a spaceship). He writes of the rocky shores of Maine and the wind on the sands of Cape Cod, the decline of fisheries, the Grass Dance of the Lakota Sioux. Hay is profoundly affected as he watches pilot whales stranded on Cape Cod. Observing the transformation of a pond to a bog, he likens its rhythmic change to the beat of a human heart. Hay's essay about a journey to the Arizona desert is especially revealing of his spiritual sensitivity to his surroundings. From the Grand Old Man of nature writing, this is an eloquent valedictory. (Jan.)