Perhaps I sought atonement, having missed Sunday and Monday visits to Prospect Park, but I found myself at the foot of the stairs leading up to Lookout Hill. It was utterly deserted, and I recalled that a man was bludgeoned to death nearby last summer; I picked up a sturdy branch as a "walking stick," my standard prop in secluded areas.
Amid warbler songs in the woods, a human voice, hoarse and ranting, floated down from the hilltop. The rant was a cadenced one: just one voice, so, not an altercation. Delusional madman? Rehearsing actor? Aspiring rapper? Cautiously, I approached the circular meadow en route to the hill's summit. The rant, now directly across the wildflowers, was a religious one, praising the Lord and invoking his mercy, and occasionally lapsing into incomprehensible tongues.
Peering over the foliage, I saw a Nick Nolte-esque guy with Viking hair and mustache fling his arms skyward in rapture. As a believer in the mystical, I decided against hasty labels for my hilltop prophet (although a certain agitated relentlessness suggested being off one's meds).
Back down from the mountaintop, life went on, and so did these 15 eager dogs on their way to the Nethermead with their hired walker. Today marks the end of Quarter Three of my year in the park. Summer here in Brooklyn's green heart was lush and languid and playful, a blur of picnics, concerts, and cloud-gazing. With the quicker pace of autumn, I am determined to try harder not to miss a single day. Because, well, God knows what I'll be missing.
The earth is the
LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein.
For he hath founded it upon the seas, and
established it upon the floods.
Who shall ascend into the hill of the LORD? or who shall stand in his holy
place?
He that hath clean hands, and a pure heart; who hath not lifted up his soul
unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully.
—Psalm 24, 1-4
Holy fool or holy lunatic, it's often hard to tell. These people have some wonderful handmade walking sticks, btw. http://www.whistlecreek.com/classerwalst.html
Posted by: m.thew | October 01, 2008 at 04:03 PM
They should really rebuild some sort of look-out tower in the center of that place. You have to wait until winter and the leaves have fallen to really take in the surrounding view. Don't you think this is one of the most run down sections of the Park? Lots of dead and dying trees... paths that are mostly mud... I always feel like I need more than a stick when I go up there.
Posted by: IMBY | October 02, 2008 at 11:09 AM
Thew, those are rocking walking sticks, although I love "found" ones as well. As for Lookout Hill, IMBY, they are doing a huge amount of work on clearing out the understory of invasive species, and the "lost" quality of the place probably helps it attract migrating birds (along with other, more menacing species). I'm sure today, if they rebuilt the viewing tower, it would require 24-hour guards to address liability issues etc...I too was shocked by the view in winter when the leaves are off the trees. As with other struggling parts of the park (like the Vale of Cashmere), the best advocacy is to go there and get your friends to go there; neglect and desertion are such a vicious cycle.
Posted by: Brenda from Flatbush | October 02, 2008 at 11:40 AM
I do love visiting the park with you, and look forward to fall's show of glory before the snows..
Posted by: Jenn | October 08, 2008 at 07:47 PM