O quam mirabilis est
O quam mirabilis est praescientia
divini pectoris,
quae prescivit omnem creaturam.
Nam cum Deus insprexit faciem
hominis,
quem formavit,
omnia opera sua
in eadem forma hominis integra aspexit.
O quam mirabilis est inspiratio,
quae hominem sic suscitavit.
Stepping off Christine’s Island and Planet Sarawak in one stumbling step he now floats in Nehwyreve.
Geographically Melbourne but to him a limbo where memory and substance collide incessantly – shattering into the jigsawn fragments of what was and might still be. Here ageing is a fine madness he embraces. Tentatively at first but then with the instinctual passion of survival. With age comes the capacity to encompass a whole life. With a whole life comes meaning. And he does crave meaning.
Here in his empire of desire the demands of contractual obligation and loyalty but not love are void. Here his love of self has shaped a wooded landscape. In the foreground the recognisable lineaments of his immediate family. In the middle distance those that time and his dissembling memory has removed to that distance. And against a dawning sky those perhaps still unknown that may still take root in an ever shifting present.
One tree stands above all others, at the centre of this vision, bridging earth to the heavens. That tree has always been there. Always taller than the others. Always there when he dared look. Whereas his capacity for love created this landscape; this one tree created him, still nurtures him and binds his life to all of life. To a love of Life.
arbores multas serit (diligens) agricola, quarum fructus non aspiciet (baccam ipse nunquam)
the industrious husbandman plants trees, not one berry of which he will ever see
Marcus Tullius Cicero
O quam mirabilis est
O quam mirabilis est praescientia
divini pectoris,
quae prescivit omnem creaturam.
Nam cum Deus insprexit faciem
hominis,
quem formavit,
omnia opera sua
in eadem forma hominis integra aspexit.
O quam mirabilis est inspiratio,
quae hominem sic suscitavit.
AFW
Melbourne January 13 2012
Republished November 26 2013
January 14, 2012 at 10.05 |
I enjoyed reading that. It resonates in some strange ways.
The book… I want to see the book
February 2, 2012 at 10.05 |
Thanks for commenting on my blog; sorry for the late reply though. Hope to hear from you. Min