A chance to breathe.
Things are finally starting to slow down around here, with three tests behind me, a momentary lull in newspaper activity, & several classes canceled. I could not be happier.
Oh, & it’s warming up this week! Sunshine & 50-degree weather is on the menu, despite some surprise snow that paid a short visit on Monday – Jackson, you’re so wild!
Now that I’ve a bit of time on my hands again, I’ve been carrying around a little paperback given me by a beloved back home. It’s one I’ve been meaning to explore, & in keeping it on me, I’ve been able to fill a few free moments touring its highly crafted pages.
The book is one of poetry, by the erratic Mr. E. E. Cummings. Thus far, I’m thinking it’s not really my style – but that doesn’t mean I’m not thoroughly impressed by the intricate patterns of letters & numbers & words that he created. When I pass through the pages, I feel as though I’m taking a stroll through an abstract gallery of art, where one must pause to reflect upon each separate stroke of the brush, make an attempt at extracting the artist’s intent, & then wonder if he really meant anything at all.
One verse did stick with me, though.
Love's function is to fabricate unknownness.
Now, I could be taking this the absolute wrong way (I even googled to see if any literary geniuses had explained the passage’s meaning for the world wide web to view & understand. None that I could find!), & if so, please don’t think I am a fool! Because even if this wasn’t e. e.’s original intent, it helped me to discover something about myself this past week.
Where there is love, there is understanding. Whether it’s family, dearest friends, or someone even more significant, love fosters openness. & when two people are transparent & understand each other’s transparencies, there is “knownness.” When on the receiving end of love, you feel known, fully & completely. Being known, that’s the opposite of being alone, right? In a way, feeling well known alleviates that worst of feelings, feeling lonesome.
Love’s function is to fabricate unknownness.
No matter the bond, can two human beings ever fully know each other? There are so many things, so many, many things, (some good, some, perhaps not) darting & ducking about the crevices of the mind – too many. And not necessarily are these things all hidden for the sake of hiding, though certainly there is much we all try to suppress, many times there are beautiful thoughts & ideas that cannot be shared – thoughts that are fleeting, too fast to be caught, developed, & put onto paper. The mind is too vast to be completely shared, completely understood, fully known.
Those days when we’re not feeling so well loved, when we’re feeling more alone, do we not also feel unknown? And yet, we never can be perfectly known. At least, apart from God.
Someone, anyway, knows me through & through.
In the wise words of Thomas a Kempis (love him),
“Love Him & hold Him fast as your friend: for He will never forsake you though all others hold aloof.”
And, if you’re lucky, maybe you’ll be able to find a body on this earth that will make you feel a bit less unknown, in the meantime.
These are just some photos I made of my dear friend who gave me the book.
This is her bedroom wall, it tells a bit about who she is.