Historical setting: 602 C.E. A cottage in the Vosges
People like Simon would seem ordinary, or common, amid the great heroic tales that are told by the fires of soldiers gathering for wars. The ordinary aren’t mentioned. Great stories are spun around the likes of Greg or Gabe. And I can imagine little dark-haired Layla, our baby, could be the mysterious woman of legends one day. Mystery is already her nature.
But what is there to say about Simon, except that we love him, and we miss him now? We miss the constancy of his listening, and his ever-intense care for details. The hens and the pigeons miss Simon. The mule and the donkey miss Simon. But what do they know of grief — the hens and pigeons, the cuckoo in the trees, a turtle on the log at the creek? Now the whole earth grieves for Simon. And as he found his lost brother Samuel we can still know his warm spirit flowing in the vastness of all love, invisible.
Ana takes my hand as she is powerless to dam her flood of tears. We watch our children gathered here for their daily lessons. But we have no lessons for them today. Now, the lesson for me is that learning new things is a celebration of life itself, and in this time of grief, forcing that celebration seems raw. Haberd expects Hannah to fix this sorrow by playing one of Simon’s games with him – stacking rocks – pressing funny pictures into the writing board – Hannah is of no mind to play. She has never seen her mother’s tears and she is at a loss for how to fix it.
Layla is nearly sleeping in Ana’s arms, and Brandell waddles over to me, and I pick him up and hold him close to me and hum a chant to fill the empty place. A sad song has a place just now. The woeful futility of Ecclesiastes shines as hope amid grief.
“A time to break down, and a time to build up.
A time to weep and a time to laugh;
A time to mourn, and a time to dance.
A time to throw away stones,
And a time to gather stones together…”
[Ecclesiastes 3:3:5]
Brandell pushes away, and waddles over to get Simon’s harp down, and he brings it over to me.
(Continues tomorrow)
Lazarus Ink 