This post is part of a series. See “Intermittent” for details.
Oct08MDH_MorningMoon
Saturday, 18 October
Morning. Bus trip with a club through the Ardennes. The moon still shows on a blue sky over autumn trees. Mist covers fields. Muddy cows graze. Corn stalks age.
Afternoon. After break in Rochefort. Still a beautiful day. Didn’t go with the group to the river. Was digesting tragic news. I walked a huge hill to a café, used the WC and took a tea. I held the clear glass in my hands, heating my fingers. I returned the way I came, snapping self portraits. Finally to sit in the sun soon to climb down the other side of the mountains.
Oct08MDH_TheLight
The heat and light recharged the darkness swept surprisingly upon me. Some moments I would close my eyes, intently listen to a few crickets. Then open my eyes, and follow the descent of a single golden leaf. How precious life. How sacred. What violence we do to life, others and our own. Legacies, inheritances to gift loved ones, family of blood and spirit. To children, to parents, to a circle that spans much further than we imagine.
Walking in the caves at Hans sur Lesse I remembered a waking meditation. I found myself in a cave–not walking into it but already there, sitting with legs crossed, as if meditating. I was in the heart of the place, deep within. In Hans sur Lesse I felt a lightness, ancient age, a living thing that keeps changing, being, even as humans try to fix its process, contents, essence. Enya played in a cavern chamber followed by a light show with blue and red.
Oct08MDH_TheLesseRiver
I most enjoyed the show when all the lights were off; the darkness wasn’t harsh; its softness soothed. The Lesse River winds through the caves. What a ride to take by river! To pass rock immersed in the current. And the river moves within the caves, shifting, eroding, becoming at a pace all its own, despite the lights and cables and theatrics.
Post updated: 28 January 2009.
Of Osiris by Melissa Dey Hasbrook is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 Unported License.
