Anthony Russell White – The Faith of Leaping

I met Anthony Russell White when I began as the head of the school his grandchildren attended and where he served as a trustee. Tony loved Montessori education and was instrumental in founding our middle school program. Truly a renaissance man—fly fishing, philosophy, math, art collecting, cat rescuing, and beyond—Tony’s ardor for poetry was particularly infectious. He introduced me to the genius of William Stafford’s poems and awed me with the story of his pilgrimage to Jelaluddin Rumi’s shrine in Konya, Turkey. As a poet, Tony was twice a Pushcart Prize nominee.  Today, three stones sit in a row in a garden on our campus. On each are inscribed the words of Tony’s poem, ‘The Faith of Leaping.’ The poem inspires our school’s children and adults alike to embrace a larger trust in life; when we read it, we feel empowered to be brave enough to risk uncertainty for the precious reward of life fully lived.

– Sam Shapiro

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The Faith of Leaping

You need the faith of leaping
To get on the road
That leads to the light

Let yourself go…

Jump like the mountain goat
from his boulder

Slide like a trout
in the cold fast current

Fall like a thousand-year-old cedar
sensing the soft moss below

Dig down in the dense earth
like a badger

Float like the fish-eagle
then turn just one feather
out at the edge,

And begin that silent
roll-and-dive

Anthony Russell White (1939-2017)