An Embarrassment of Riches... NOT

[cedar_grove]

How I love that dark beauty,
Seducing the world
with her black hair,
how I love her!

How I love my black darling
Who lives in the heart of the world,
in the heart of our hearts,
in the hearts of the gods,
how I love her!

Because she is black,
I love black.
Because she dances,
I love dancing.
Because she is beautiful
and black with dancing
hair, I cannot help
myself, I adore her!

--Indian poet Ramprasad

For we are - all of us - mortal beings who will one day face death. There is no avoiding Kali. She will be with us at the end; it is no good to pretend she will not.

Is this the pagan equivalent of the phrase, "the only certainties in life are death and taxes"?

Even if not, I think the sentiments are the same... in knowing that we will all of us at some point meet an end, does it not fill us with the knowledge that every minute of every day that we live is a precious moment to be celebrated... lived to the full.

Even simple things, like a good meal for example, simple but good; a good sleep; a decent conversation, but even those things don't account for everything. What about the sky that heralds a storm and then delivers gentle rain. We had that here the other day - we were all being warned that there were going to be sandstorms, (which frankly was quite an exciting thought for me, though I know how dangerous they can be, I've never seen one, and so I thought it would be an experience), instead some time into the evening a hush came over everywhere and I thought I could hear the sound of rain. I was surprised, so went and opened my balcony door just to see and lo and behold, there was a gentle rain falling from that stormy sky. How beautiful and unexpected. How precious a moment.

While I'm in a place where I'm still not a hundred percent comfortable, because of language, because of culture (and speaking of culture, a funny story in a minute), simple little things like this remind me that even uncomfortable, I can live life for those precious little moments.

Okay - my funny story. I don't know if I've mentioned my neighbour before. Kind gentleman, getting on in age, maybe late 50s, married, friendly, and an English speaker. We exchange greetings and the time of day if we're in the hall at the same time, that kind of thing... so... last night a person came to my door, not a word of English to explain what he wanted, and neither of us could get hold of our Arabic/English speaking friends on our cell phones to help us out... so... this guy knocks on my neighbour's door, after a moment or two my neighbour comes to the door wearing only his shirt and cardigan, and his boxer/briefs. I did not know /where/ to put my face - Muslim country and the neighbor half dressed. Of course he didn't appear to bat an eyelid, kindly translated what the person at my door wanted, and then we all went on our way, but... it was certainly an embarrassing moment for me - but also I suppose a /real/ moment. One of those - moments to remind you that you are alive.