La Cura
“Ti salverò da ogni malinconia.”
Brief Thoughts (No. 42)
We wander down a path with many twists and turns. We often stop and break down, crying. We’re not adept, especially, at making decisions, so the stopping to consider which turn we should take is often a lengthy and fraught affair.
But so be it. The road winds on, and is waiting for us after our sorrow dries up. We’re still moving forward, and that’s significant in and of itself.
The weather, you know, is a little rough today – a little rainy – but tomorrow, I think, there’ll be sun.
Poetry Hour: “The Road Not Taken”
Introducing “Poetry Hour”: a series of poetry readings featuring some of history’s most famous and beloved poems. In this first installment, I read “The Road Not Taken” by Robert Frost. I hope you enjoy! (Forgive my awkwardness and nervousness in front of the camera.)
Eight Brief Asides
1.
So many straying thoughts and rogue ideas. Always trying, I think, to assemble everything into a cogent whole – a coherent junction of all the world’s miscellaneous parts. And yet – I’m just one woman, small, and my ability to hold everything – let alone weave it together – is limited.
But I feel somehow like I’m answering a call – fulfilling a responsibility – by trying, at any rate, to put these efforts into words.
Whether or not I succeed every time is beside the point. What matters is that I am choosing to cooperate – giving my “yes” – by showing up and letting the words take form.
2.
“Write about the hard things.”
What does that mean? Everything is hard.
3.
When the road is long (as most roads worth taking are), you must try to pace yourself for the traveling still to come. You must take each leg of the trip as it presents itself, fueling yourself appropriately for that particular stretch of land, remembering that being tired is not a sin, and neither is taking rest.
4.
My fate in life is to be a complicated person longing for simplicity.
5.
We’ll have to, weather permitting, take off our coat and walk in the rain, letting the water remind us that there are forces more powerful than us at work and we can abandon ourselves to them if we get tired of carrying our umbrella everywhere.
6.
A secret: When you let go of your grip on the thing you desire, you give your God permission to order and organize things as He would like.
7.
Listen! What sound is this? The ringing of bells in the dark of night. A call to prayer, a call to reckoning – reckoning with the fact that, among all the possibilities for your life, you have chosen to live out this one. Or haven’t you?
8.
Rose – lovely to behold –
have you managed to penetrate
the mysteries of the world?
A quote which has given me a lot of comfort over the years, and to which I’ve been turning often of late:
My heart is at ease knowing that what was meant for me will never miss me, and what misses me was never meant for me.
Imam al-Shafi’i
Recently I Learned
Recently I learned
That I know nothing at all.
What was sure is not.
All my thoughts are upside-down,
And yet – ¡ǝǝɹɟ ǝɯ sʇǝs ʇɐɥʍ s,ʇɐɥʇ
Brief Thoughts (No. 41)
It’s easy to accept a responsibility that comes from the heart, where there is love to sustain it.
It’s harder to accept the duties imposed by a lesser force, for then there is the strain of resistance, rebellion, and repulsion, since the motive is not rooted in love.