This is the view from a certain rental house in Ocracoke. A vacation rental like all the others, but this one rented on a certain September weekend, with dear friends, during the waning days of summer, a summer like many that came before though none after. From my bedroom I noticed them. The egrets that came to rest en masse on the fading green marshes. As still as ghosts they peppered my view and I remembered them as beautiful, simply. Looking backwards, as memories overwhelmed, so fragile, those that had come and were yet to come, still, yet restless to live, still.
We were on our way out to the beach, getting ready and busy. Barely giving time to catch their watching. I glanced out and saw them and quickly took this picture. These thoughts of ephemeral joy far from my mind that day. There were no words for passing souls and goodbyes, I had no reason to gasp, though the breath was there already caught deep inside my heart - ready to burst out just a few days after this photo was taken. And then again just a few weeks later.....
Yes, I recall that life can change in one instant. A desolation can descend and make shreddings of the foliage of our lives, we've only to turn our heads to glimpse what was before, just there, on a cloudy, changling day. The feathers of an egret, moving slightly in the breeze, sharp eyes looking here then there. Making a terrifying memory restful if we let it. A bird of summer perched near us for a moment, bringing hope with their beauty. Should we pause to watch them finally fly away, we feel peace in their leaving.
C'était un weekend innocent, plein de joie, avec ma copine chérie. Peut âpres avoir pris cette photo - ca maman c'est endormit un soir, mais ne s'est plus réveillé.....
Bonsoir Namie ..
ReplyDeleteCe petit souvenir de la maman de ta chere amie , est bien emouvant , la vie est ainsi faite, qu' elle peut nous tourner le dos sans le moindre signe. c' est pourquoi , il est bon de vivre chaque instant comme s' il etait le dernier .... Gros bisous ma douce .