"Come back! Even as a shadow, even as a dream."
A very-short poem-meditation for your weekend.
At Our Best
O, humans.
The ancients were just like us.
Blood, sweat, but also tears.
At our best, we love so helplessly, and well.
-S.C.
Have a lovely weekend,
xo Susan
P.S. If you enjoyed this Kindred Letter, please consider sharing with a friend - it supports this work, by helping us grow.
P.P.S. One reader commented on the above: “Heracles' wife Megara said these words when they were in danger. She asked Heracles to come and save them. The quote is from the ancient Greek tragedy 'Heracles Mainomenos, written by Euripides. Theseus, hero of Athens, saved Heracles in the end. The message of the tragedy is that we must return to traditional values; otherwise we are going to perish. The real name of Heracles is Alkeidis (strong). Heracles means Glory of Hera. Kleos=glory+Goddess Hera.” I share this with you, in fairness. Still, the verse is what inspired my meditation-poem — call it a writing prompt — and I believe that the truth of it stands.
"~ At Our Best ~
O, humans.
The ancients were just like us.
Blood, sweat, but also tears.
At our best, we love so helplessly, and well.
-S.C."
A beautiful bittersweet truth, one that seems most poignant in this autumn season. A time of longing as the daylight lessens. Yes, I find my heart re-awakening to those long-ago loves, the dear ones lost over the decades -- people, pets, places too, that knew me best and loved me back. In my heart, they still do; it's still a sharing! Around this Solstice-time, they're appearing in my sleep-dreams as well as in my thoughts.
The beautiful truth is that -- even though the corporeal form of each lost love is 'gone', each is yet as close as breath and will be whilst I myself last. As novelist Elizabeth Bowen, who knew a lot about these things, put it, "The story of one's past is an intricate web, woven of a thousand threads. Some threads shine brightly, while others remain hidden in the shadows." ... "Love is not something that you can possess, it is something that possesses you." and "The past is never dead. It's not even past."
Time expresses life's treasures through each of us, whoever we may be, keeping all our hearts beating all together in any given moment, weaving us into its great tapestry that dissolves into the vibrant impermanence of all things, ourselves included. No wonder gratitude and longing weave together!
Thanks for this so-generative prompt today.
This is melancholy and only who loses someone, he can that. It is only dream, hope and wish.