Dear Friends,
I'm sitting on my couch this morning watching the Chilean miners emerge one by one. The mine collapsed on August 5, one day after my diagnosis, and originally it was estimated that they would be trapped for four months. I remember thinking shortly thereafter that they would be rescued at about the same time I finished chemo and I was sending them mental energy to help them get through it. I've been following their progress these last few months and am really thrilled to see them rise to safety almost two months early.
I'm just heading into day 7, and (thankfully) am leaving what we have been calling "chemo pms." There's no other way to describe it, I experience incredibly heightened emotions for two days just before my blood levels drop. It happens every two weeks, so at least we know it's coming and can buy enough Haagen Dazs to keep me stable.
As part of this pms, I've really been missing my friend Sharon Rosenberg a lot these past few days. Sharon died of cancer at the end of July, and I'm not yet used to the idea that she is really gone. That is really sinking in this week.
The miners are slowly getting liberated and I'm going to walk past my Anne Frank tree to see what lies beyond today.
Much love,
Kip
Chile's miners were the only thought of my super here in Edmonton. He's a Maritimer, and the mine tragedy in Chile was for him, very personal. I hope they all get out. And then I think of the ones in China (and Canada) who don't get out. Reminded me that you were looking for poetry last week. Well, the miners made me think of Percy Byshe Shelley and his "Mask of Anarchy."
ReplyDeleteLast two verses are
'And these words shall then become
Like Oppression's thundered doom
Ringing through each heart and brain,
Heard again - again - again -
'Rise like Lions after slumber
In unvanquishable number -
Shake your chains to earth like dew
Which in sleep had fallen on you -
Ye are many - they are few.'
The whole thing can be found here
http://www.artofeurope.com/shelley/she5.htm
Take care Kip
Paul
Hi Kip
ReplyDeleteI watched the miners emerge too. The thing that struck me most was how one of the miner's wives had a baby girl during the ordeal and he asked that she be called Esperenza and so he had Esperanza Hope waiting for him. How gorgeous! So I thought I would send you the gift of Esperenza by of course Chile's Pablo Neruda:
Ode to Hope
~ Pablo Neruda
Oceanic dawn
at the center
of my life.
Waves like grapes,
the sky's solitude,
you fill me
and flood
the complete sea,
the undimished sky,
tempo
and space,
seafoam's white
battalions,
the orange earth,
the sun's
fiery waist
in agony,
so many
gifts and talents,
birds soaring into their dreams,
and the sea, the sea,
suspended
aroma,
chorus of rich, resonant salt,
and meanwhile,
we men,
touch the water,
struggling and hoping,
we touch the sea
hoping.
And the waves tell the firm coast;
"Everything will be fulfilled"
Ode a la Esperanza
Crepusculo marino,
en medio
de mi vida,
las olas como uvas,
la soledad del cielo,
me llenas
y desbordas,
todo el mar,
todo el cielo,
movimiento
y espacio,
los batallones blancos
de la espuma,
la tierra anaranjada,
la cintura
incendiada
del sol en agonia,
tantos
dones y dones,
aves
que acuden a sus suenos,
y el mar, el mar,
aroma
suspendido,
coro de sal sonora,
mientras tanto,
nosotros,
los hombres,
junto al agua,
luchando
y esperando
junto al mar,
esperando.
Las olas dicen a la costa firme:
"Todo sera cumplido."
I love that "All will be fulfilled - Todo sera cumplido"
Lots of esperenza to you!
Take care, Maria
PS. More crack soup coming very soon!
Hey Kip,
ReplyDeletejust wanted to say hi and to say I am thinking of you and sending healing vibes.
hope it has been a good day!
-Jonnie