Friday, July 31, 2009

A Charm of Finches and Away

The best and easiest way to fall in love with a person is to talk to them. You could also end up hating their fucking guts, but at least for a little while you will see that which is inside them deserving your love. Even if it isn't really there.

Red Molly loved James for more than just his '52 Vincent Black Lightning. She mistook danger for freedom. You see, that is how it is done.

As a nurse, there have been a few times when I have been with someone during the moment they died. One was a thirty-something young man who had already suffered an anoxic event that had destroyed his brain. His eyes were empty. Until he died. Then, as he took his final deep chest-filling breath, his eyes were full of all the people he had loved in his life.

I saw them, just as real as the words you see now. Then he exhaled and I saw them all swirl away deep down into his eyes, which then went dead again. For him I shut his eyelids. For them, too.

Dancing must be exhausting, because young energetic couples invariably begin by moving about quickly, then they gradually slow down, coming to a near-stop eventually. Then they wander off and sit by themselves or among others. That may be a critical difference.

What's the deal?

My spouse calls it insomnia. It's a satanic and discomforting affliction. Yet, it affords privacy.

Climb the church tower and hammer, hammer, hammer away at the bells. You will not break them.

1 comment:

wstachour said...

We used to have firsthand experience with death in life. That has been sanitized for most of us now, and to witness death is a trauma.

I guess the trauma is inevitable.

I was with my dog a few years back when we euthanized her, and that moment was horrible for me. I don't envy that part of your job.