I did it. I said I would. It needed doing. I wanted to. I did it. The great task, the infinitesimal goal you set before me, I accomplished. Call me anything you like. Call me a swimmer at the shore, the sea behind him. Call me a climber at the top remembering the bottom. Call me a man in the afterglow of duty. Call me anything at all. I did it all and all I did I owe to you. Thank you. ƒ
Dormer
I’m going to paint that son of a bitch. I’m going to climb up there and paint it. I’m not a young man any more, but I’m not old and I can’t get my motorcycle out of the garage because the scaffold is in the way and I won’t move the scaffold until I paint the dormer. I’m going to paint that son of a bitch. I’m going to climb up there and remember I climbed Whitney and Baden-Powell and Mount San Antonio. I don’t need to pretend. I climbed them all. I’m going to climb up there and I’m going to paint that son of a bitch. I’m going to paint to make things better and brighter and secure against the sun and rain. I’m going to climb up there and I’m going to do my job. Nobody has to pay me. […]