Death Blowing Bubbles

"Death blowing bubbles" 18th century. The bubbles symbolize life's fragility. This plaster work appears on the ceiling of the Holy Grave Chapel in Michaelsberg Abbey, Bamberg in Germany.

A feast of sorrows

I have complicated feelings about David Foster Wallace, even though I've never met him.

This piece by Anne Dowd is much more than a piece about DFW, though, and is excellent in its pacing, its simplicity, its point.

Her line "How does the heart reconcile itself to its feast of losses?" reminded me of a conversation with friends a few months ago when I asked how we go about the (to my mind, sacred) work of making ourselves a host for a feast of sorrows. Reading this, I think that's a question I might need to visit again, more deeply.  

For the Anniversary of My Death: W. S. MERWIN

For the Anniversary of My Death
W. S. MERWIN

Every year without knowing it
I have passed the day
When the last fires will wave to me
And the silence will set out
Tireless traveler
Like the beam of a lightless star

Then I will no longer
Find myself in life as in a strange garment
Surprised at the earth
And the love of one woman
And the shamelessness of men
As today writing after three days of rain
Hearing the wren sing and the falling cease
And bowing not knowing to what

Death

Death:
There's a sense of security in what is old, and with something new coming into your life it's natural to be a bit afraid. Give this new situation a chance and give yourself time to get comfortable with the new conditions. It could be as simple as getting your hair cut or changing your glasses frames, but it could be much bigger than that.