Tonight I pulled out

...my well-worn copy of the King James Bible, the one I used in a course on the Bible and literature. Of all the English courses I took, it was the most memorable and valuable. You can tell by all the highlighted passages. I obviously took the course during my yellow and blue phase. Anyhow, I just revisited Ecclesiastes 12. Earlier today H phoned to tell me that George Elliott Clarke was up next on Sounds Like Canada. Apparently Shelagh Rogers is checking in with him regularly this year and will do so again in the coming weeks. H and I are both big fans of Clarke's work. So I clicked on CBC and learned that Clarke recently received the Order of Nova Scotia and an honorary doctor of letters degree from the University of Waterloo. He said he took the opportunity to read Ecclesiastes 12 to the students. He went on to say how important it is to "be in touch with truly great works" and the Bible is tremendous literature. As I read Ecclesiastes 12 I thought yes, it is important to be in touch, but when I came to 12.12-14, a passage I'd highlighted in yellow years ago, a passage that didn't sound the least bit familiar now, I began to wonder how important it is to stay in touch.