Time passes


Time passes. Lichen & David’s wedding reception has come and gone.
We are still a three-legged dog – we can get around just fine now but there will always be a limp.
No more so than at Lichen & David’s bash on August 6th. Joe’s absence was an aching presence amidst the celebration – the greetings and hugs and laughter and dancing.

I had a bad night of missing Joe last night and when I woke up today, I went looking for Diane’s gift of “A Year with Rumi: Daily Readings”.
This is what I found for today, August 25th, Robbin’s and my 32nd wedding anniversary.

On the Day I Die,
when I am being carried toward the grave,
don’t weep. Don’t say, He’s gone. He’s gone.

Death has nothing to do with going away.
The sun sets and the moon sets,
but they’re not gone.

Death is a coming together.
The tomb looks like a prison,
but it’s really release into union.

The human seed goes down into the ground
like a bucket in a well where Joseph is.

It grows and comes up
full of some unimagined beauty.

Your mouth closes here
and immediately opens
with a shout of joy there.

~ Jalāl ad-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī, 13th century Sufi poet

My Joseph, we will never stop holding you firmly in our hearts.
And we will find joy in you and in ourselves.