Singing songs read through the mind of time. Playing chess with 40 watt lightbulbs. His polyester war pony called Chevrolet Malibu speeding down the highway. He thinks about the day’s events. The visit that threw out the words of hurt just to see the dance of pain emit from that long distant gaze. Tough life behind it as his friend’s mother had just passed away. She was so sad.
The doctors tried to do as much as they could but they firmly said that there was nothing more they could do. They tried bartering for more time with the medicine men. Perhaps they did manage just enough time for the family to say farewell but the seasons take what is theirs and there is no time for bartering.
Where does life go when you have fought so hard? How much farther do you have to travel to make things better? The stars approach you faster and lightning streaks and roars all around. Why are you so impatient to find answers? They danced the dance of hope with sheer delight.
Her mother gave her life in a life filled with turmoil but she gave the support of love only a mother knows. She gave full support in the fragility and volatility of change. Love life, love children, love yourself is what rang through her mind.
Today it didn’t seem to be enough but it was enough to carry her through the day. Future days would be difficult. There were parts. Men’s parts. Women’s parts. Parts that they demanded to be recognized. Part of it was togetherness.
Her mother lived a good life. It was a hard life but love for her family never waned. Her husband sang song after song for her as her breathing got shorter and shallower. He cried because his whole world will now be upside down.
The familiar smells of her essence wafted through his head as he remembered the days when his own Kunshi died. Kunshi tell me a story as he laid his head on her lap. She sang and drank her cup of tea and stroked his hair. Now his wife laid there as he stroked her hair singing the final song of love.
Clusters of memories that will be distant in time. His oldest daughter sitting there with them stroking his dad’s thin grey hair.
A Rubik’s cube of memories scrambled in a thousand combinations. They were memories of love but for today they were memories of loss. Giving up the home address to face love. Giving up loneliness to embrace that love.
The forever fires that burn in our hearts are rekindled because a new baby is born to take the place of her mother. (June 29, 2017)
