With all this snow, said Blurtso, I don’t think I’m getting enough exercise. Maybe you should do some tai chi, said Harlan. Could you teach me? said Blurtso. Sure, said Harlan.
We’ll begin with a simple circling exercise, said Harlan.
A little less like an airplane propeller, said Harlan, more slowly, and more side to side.
I wonder if I should be anxious about the passage of time? I suppose every second that passes carries me closer to death, and I should try to fill every second with as much life as possible. But you can only fill what was empty to begin with, so first, I should try to make every second as empty as possible.
Wow, said Harlan, the greenhouse looks great! Yes, said Blurtso, there’s nothing like having friends. What will you do now? I’m thinking of starting a Co-op.
Hmm, thought Blurtso, the grass in Pablo’s greenhouse is getting out of control… I’d better do some serious grazing.
This is going to take longer than I thought…
I can understand why people don’t think they’re part of nature, when the wind, rain, sun and snow seem to do what they do without trying, while humans struggle to do what they do. On the other hand, humans don’t struggle to struggle, they struggle without trying.
“In an instant”
Easily,
in an instant,
you could have not been born.
You could have had nothing.
You could have lost
the sun, the sky,
the slow moon ascending,
and the harmony
and flicker of leaves.
You could have lost
the rain’s splash
exciting the soil,
the blue beyond,
and the light
and absence of light.
You could have lost everything.
And I could have lost the same,
never knowing the cure
for thirst in a world without you.
I read the strangest story in my in my literature class, said Harlan. What was it about? said Blurtso. It was about an aquarium of axolotls, said Harlan. What’s an axolotl? said Blurtso. An axolotl is an ancient, tadpole-like creature. What happened in the story? said Blurtso. Nothing, said Harlan, the axolotls just sat around on the bottom of the aquarium looking through the glass. What a great story, said Blurtso.
I wonder how far a snowflake can fall? I wonder if it changes along the way? I wonder if it starts big and gets smaller, or starts small and gets bigger? I wonder if it thinks it has control over where it’s going, or if it thinks it’s directed by gravity and wind? Maybe gravity and wind are within it, and it does control where it’s going. And the things that create gravity and wind are also within it. And a snowflake determines not only its own course, but the course of time, matter, and space.
Kahlil Gibran, said Pablo, in the section, “On Children”, writes:
“Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of Life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you,
And though they are with you yet they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts,
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow,
which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams.
You may strive to be like them,
but seek not to make them like you.
For life goes not backward nor tarries with yesterday.”
That’s very profound, said Blurtso. Yes, it is, said Pablo.
I wonder, said Blurtso, if Gibran was a donkey in a former life?
“A lesson in beauty”
Because the flowers hide patiently
under the cool blanket of autumn,
because the spring comes quietly
with the sound of melting snow,
because the breeze touches softly
with the fresh fragrance of summer,
I will have to learn to see,
to listen and to feel,
if I am to find you.