life as completion — in loving memory

These can be seen as a collection of thoughts which surround details from memories. It can be seen as a romantic form of mourning, with aspects of redemption, exorcism, wonder, joy.

One may also see it as an effort to make life complete, and not merely an unfinished presence on earth.

The completion (fulfillment, flourishing) of life seems to me of much greater importance than it is applied to. Whether suddenly imposed or occurring in slow and gradual stages, the passing of an individual does not compare to the withering of a flower. Both, man and flower, begin to grow hidden. Both succeed the metamorphosis of a seed, before becoming the swaddled bairn or bud. Both resist the pressure of the layers that protect them. Once freed, one will begin to breathe, crawl, run, without any guarantee of doing it with beauty, before it falls, dissolving into the soil. The other will open without crawling, without running, and it will be bound to be as much beauty as the seed has predetermined, never withering, never falling to the ground, never dissolving into the soil, before it has reached its climax of being beauty.

Man is to be fulfillment, and flourish into beauty.

In memory of my father (March 21 1931 – March 11 2001), today I share yet another short excerpt from a work in progress:

Papi’s Coffee
Recipes, Inquiries, and Fruits in letters to my father