Bird Droppings March 13, 2012

Finding solace along the way

 

Over the years many of my former and not so former students read my daily meanderings. It has been a couple years since I received an email from a former student who was not the best reader in high school. In his email he said, “I could read every word in Bird Droppings today” and I did not think being not the orator or writer my father was that I wrote in a fancy way or used too many fancy words, although I do have a bad habit of inventing words. He said there were no fancy high fangled words that I never saw before. As I was thinking I wondered what about a simple word he mentioned not so sure of and yet it is so powerful. For my friend and former student I write today and develop a new vocabulary word, solace. A simple definition from online is truly not adequate to give meaning to the depth of the word.

 

“Comfort in sorrow, misfortune, or distress; consolation.” Dictionary.com

 

I was thinking as I walked out this morning just after 4:00 that it was beautiful within the mist and sogginess from our rain of yesterday an extremely quiet morning no tree frogs and or crickets chirping away as it was somewhat below their ambient temperature needed. The normal crickets and tree frogs faint chorus that has been surrounding our house the past few mornings was silent as there was a chill in the air. For me as I begin to try and finalize a chapter in my own life, with my graduate studies writing my dissertation and as I look further on. Solace is that calming as the final pieces fall in place. I tend to seek solace in myself, within, finding a spot where I am at peace and can rejuvenate.

For many solace is in other ways, a massage or a book, perhaps a quiet walk. Several years ago when my brother passed away in my mother’s grieving she sought solace in writing, and as other funerals of friends came in assisting others in grieving process. Not too long after my brother John passed away a young man who we all knew was killed in a car accident. At my brothers funeral my mother pressed flowers and made book markers with poems for friends and family, the pressed flowers were laminated into the bookmarkers. She gathered a few blossoms from this young man’s funeral and did several for his family.  

The thanks from his family were shared as two mothers embraced and smiled a few weeks later. I wonder as I sit and think, ponder, why do so many not seek solace. I watch daily many folks smolder and contain their sorrow and discomfort letting it build into depression and even a stress related illness for some. For some solace is that weekly sojourn to church and daily intercessory sessions in prayer. Solace can be a simple process but as I think it is an active one as well. We need to seek solace not just wait. Far too many people want to be solaced by others and never really get there. There is an interaction but you must be a willing participant and be seeking that state of mind. I am wandering this morning. It has been several years since I was reintroduced to James Kavanaugh. A good friend used his poetry and writing to end graduate classes sort of a quiet break to end several hours of discussion and class time. I thoroughly enjoyed those brief moments each week as we would do this.

 

KNOW THIS, MY FRIEND
by James Kavanaugh

Know this, my friend,
I will never desert you.
I will be there when all have gone away,
When finally you have nothing more to say,
And there is no apparent reason ever for me to stay.
When all the fears of a lifetime have crowded in on you
And every particle of your past has lost all meaning,
When you cannot lift your head
or hold back the tears,
And you can no longer bear
the terror of your own ruminations,
When all your triumphs are as dust
that cannot hold you aloft,

And even the family you raised and loved
have no time for you,
I will be there
To bring you what joy and courage I can,
To remind you of all the beauty and wonder
you are,
To heal you with all the love I have,
To carry you, if need be, wherever you must go,
Only because you are my friend
And I will never desert you.

 

I never realized how much I missed a poet, as I did when I was reunited with James Kavanaugh at Piedmont College in that graduate class. I had read his work back in the day as my youngest son says when referring to my younger days. It was in the early 1970’s when I drove a VW van and had long hair and was even then still against war.  Funny thinking back to such ancient times and how we responded to situations within our world view. As I thought looking at this poem, the word solace very much so can be in reading a poem or making an attempt at understanding someone’s thoughts. But as time goes so often for me it is sitting each morning and or afternoon writing Bird Droppings. So my friends as you seek solace in your own way may we each as well seek also peace this wonderful day and please keep all in harm’s way on your mind and in your hearts and to always give thanks.

namaste

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