Light of Life……

“Go to a forest and kiss the stream, kiss the tree, kiss the light leaking through the trees! Give your love to those that give life to you!”  Mehmet Murat ildan

For Us (I will carry it on)

Heart wrenching. Have you been here in elder (loved one’s) care? I have. Read this beautifully written piece.

A Swift Current

Edouard Vuillard– 1891-1892– Private Collection

An hour often passed without their speaking. The shared quiet fell over them, binding them more tightly than any conversation could.

~  Jhumpa Lahiri The Lowland

Twenty-four hours ago,

my mother did not know me.

Now we sit

side by side;

holding hands.

Our words

drift into the air;

a deep breath;

a slight smile.

Tengo hambre, she says,

surprising me

with the lost language of her childhood.

Our silence surprises me too;

luscious relief

after years of dementia’s

nonsensical tales;

bitter accusations;

angry recriminations.

Our silence;

a tender reminder of

long ago afternoons

home from school;

the two of us sitting

at the formica table;

Chips Ahoy and milk.

Day after day,

we sat in silence as

I tried to figure out

what the nuns expected;

what the other kids wanted;

why was I so scared.

She knew

not to say a word

until…

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Easy Listening By the Campfire

Sitting around the ‘campfire’ staring at the coals and lapping flames. The air is near perfect with no chill. No pesky mosquitos or wind blowing the smoke into your eyes. The nearby river, for now, flows peacefully and the nearby rapids provide a chattering sound as the water passes over. The conversation is thoughtful, fluid, positive, life affirming. The fire burned on at the pace of the conversation…nice and easy.

Maidenhair

~

From the same………Beautiful in their own way

Solitude in Nature

Thoreau’s Need for Solitude

“By my intimacy with nature I find myself withdrawn from man. My interest in the sun and the moon, in the morning and the evening, compels me to solitude.” July 25, 1851

“Ah! I need solitude. I have come forth to this hill at sunset to see the forms of the mountains in the horizon — to behold and commune with something grander than man. It is with infinite yearning and aspiration that I seek solitude, more and more resolved and strong…”   August 14, 1854

“I have lately got back to that glorious society called Solitude.” January 1, 1859

Often we are tired of being alone. We seek company, we crave the touch. We need the frenetic noise of ‘culture’. But, for some, perhaps not as obsessively as Thoreau, we seek solitude, if even for a quiet sunrise or sunset. Or, we seek it for the longer hike up into the woods, or along the stream’s edge, to a vista that’s bigger than us and our acquired burdens.

I recently sat, alone, overlooking a river. The sound of the water tumbling down over rock ledges and plunging, the sound birds in the trees above, the feel of the cool breeze against my face was beyond peaceful or relaxing. Had I been in an urban setting, my mind would probably be flittering about, dancing from one tedious worry or plan to another. The silence would have to be thwarted with the TV or stereo or the clickety clack of a keyboard. Antsy, I would need to busy myself. On the river, I felt none of that. No timeline, no noise beyond nature’s rhythm. My senses were acutely honed in on details beyond my mind’s clatter. Solitude in Nature is invigorating while soothing.