Ralph Waldo Emerson

photo by DABrown

" Live in the sunshine, swim the sea, drink the wild air "

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I finished the book The Elegance of the Hedgehog by Muriel Barbery and at the end of the story the character of Paloma, a 12 year old brimming over with her super IQ musings, says this ...

"Thinking back on it , this evening, with my heart and stomach all like jelly, I have finally concluded , maybe that's what life is about: there's a lot of despair, but also the odd moment of beauty, where time is no longer the same. It's as if those strains of music created a sort of interlude in time, something suspended, an elsewhere that had come to us, an always within never. Yes, that's it, an always within never.

Don't worry Renee, I won't commit suicide and I won't burn a thing. Because from now on, for you, I'll be searching for those moments of always within never.

Beauty, in this world."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I began thinking of my own moments - when time seems to have stopped or is stretching and I realize again, oh, this is so very beautiful and it is as if the whole world, the whole universe is right and perfect and contained inside me. I wish I could feel that way all the time. The photo above depicts a moment of my own - Actually, it was more than a moment but a day. For myself, when I experience moments of my own they often involve a sense of geographical place. I was in France in September of 2004 and we were in Moustier, in the south of France. I do have to stop here and state that my moments do not have to involve exotic or far away locations but they do often occur when I travel. This day was a coming together of fortunate circumstances. The weather was sunny and the air was soft and carried multiple scents of balsam, lavender, drying vegetation. The countryside was wrapped in a golden light. We were in anticipation of a late afternoon repast at a fine restaurant - "la bastide de moustier," mind you, a severe setback to our budgets, but we wanted very much to experience the cuisine. It was one of those experiences that I never want to end. Perfection. Every sense was alerted and indulged. Not just the art of delicious food paired with fine wine, but sitting on the terrace with the gorgeous views soothing my eyes and having pleasant conversation with friends that also had an deep appreciation and gratitude of what we were experiencing. And what made it so bittersweet, was the fact that we knew this moment almost did not happen, was quite extraordinary and would never happen again. A moment of always within never. Now if I am asked why I love poetry and why I write poetry, I will reply that it is a method of communication that attempts to capture a fleeting interlude by writing and to express in that manner of writing called poetry, a moment of always within never. Holding onto an illuminated space in time between one moment to the next. **I have to add this about the light I saw in the south of France, in September of 2004. I love that photo (above) because it captures a bit of the magical quality of the light. I cannot tell you how or why but there was something so beautiful and life affirming in how it brought about reflections of itself in trees, in wineglassess, in faces. I found it everywhere - bringing vitality and lustre. Always within never ...