Sundial
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Elysia, I was pleased to receive your letter, even more so to hear that your summer goes well, though I confess to envying your students greatly. You marvel at their enthusiasm, their zest and energy, their joy. I don’t; I too should experience all those things, were I so constantly within touch of one who cares so sincerely and so much. And am I to conclude from your letter that you would—so soon—close the door to this wish, this hope of mine, forever? If by ‘presumptuous’ you refer to my unstated though surely perceived intentions, you are right. I have every desire and intention of getting to know you better, and no, friendship is not my only goal. Please do not think that in saying this I make light of the love you now know; though I do not know Darryl, I am sure his virtues are many, and if you are certain that in being with him lies the fulfillment of all your hopes and dreams, then you would be well advised to stay where you are. If you are sure, may heaven grant you the happiness you now know always. But if within yourself you know that your interest in me is deeper than you would now admit and you deny yourself the opportunity to really get to know me, I shall always remain a question mark in your mind, a possibility of greater happiness, an all-too-real “What if?” I do not ask that you take anything akin to a “leap of faith”; only that you take a step. A step toward more knowledge of me and what you are, how you feel, when you are with me. You may find that you wish to step back. You may also find that you wish to step even farther. Only your heart can know the truth in this matter; let it be the final arbiter. Listen to it, and it will tell you if my touch truly warms, if my absence leaves a void, if the peace you feel when we are together is merely frivolous, if the memory of my kiss is transient. There are times when the many small eddies and currents which flow continuously though separately through one’s life converge, and for a time one feels caught up in swift and sometimes dangerous rapids—the current shifting this way, now that, often without warning, sometimes with tremendous force. This past week or so, I have felt myself in the midst of just such an experience, and perhaps it is because I know that my words have now touched your eyes, if not your heart, that I have again reached a quiet harbor, a place where I am warmed and comforted by the memory of your eyes slowly closing as once I held you briefly in my arms. Always, Chris
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About the Book
"L.C. Morse's Sundial is the defintive novel of the Black college experience. It captures vividly the depths of human passions shot through the intellectual and affective rites of passage in a turbulent time. Morse stands in the grand tradition of Ellison, Baldwin and Morrison!" - Cornel West, Princeton University "The 60s were a dramtic time in the lives of Black college students. Campuses, particularly Black ones, became the stage -- often the staging area -- for Black discontent and the search for new values. They were the places where Black heroes could be not only held but touched; where often the first confrontations with class and color prejudice, regional differences and adult authority took place. For many, it was during the college years when they came face to face for the first time with the tragedy of the death of peers; when love left indelible impressions on the heart; when traditions found meaning and adulthood finally arrived. All of these things are poignantly described by L.C. Morse in his novel Sundial." - ESSENCE Magazine
About the Author
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, L.C. Morse grew up in Jacksonville, Florida where he attended then racially segregated public schools. In the fall of 1969, he entered Howard University -- one of the nation's most prestigious black institutions of higher learning -- at a time of increasing enrollment of black students in formerly all- or predominantly-white colleges and universities, and consequent considerable public debate over the future need for black colleges and universities to exist. The prior year, in the spring of 1968, student-led demonstrations at Howard, sparked in part by rumors that the university's administration was actively engaged in efforts to end the school's status as a "black" institution, culminated in a two-week long student occupation of the school's administration building which made national headlines, and inspired one popular magazine to dub the school "the breeding ground for black revolutionaries". It was this politically-charged atmosphere that formed the backdrop to his student years at Howard, a time indelibly seared on his consciousness. He spent his junior year abroad at The London School of Economics, and returned to graduate from Howard in the spring of 1973 (B.A., Economics, Summa Cum Laude). Subsequently, he earned M.A. and Ph.D. degrees in Economics at Princeton University, and has been a Post-Doctoral Fellow at Harvard University. For the last thirty years he has sought to indulge his dual passions -- entrepreneurship and literature. Currently, he makes his home in Stamford, CT with his wife, their two children, and their beloved canine.