Gesture

[PrinceMyshkin]

Not just the finger that you gave
to the motorist who cut you off
nor the open palm with which you offered
or entreated love nor the hundred
-thousand thousand gestures
that you made at other gesturers
you passed or loved or
despised along your way, but
all of these combined into one
will constitute the gesture
that was you when all who knew
or were touched by you look back
and remember you.



Jerry Newman © July 15, 2007

[CdnReader]

The ripple effect.... How will we be remembered? Good one, Jer. In a similar vein, here's one of mine from some time back....


.

reflections

what if
you could look in a mirror
and see reflected there
surrounding you
all of the people
you’ve loved

what if
you could look in a pond
and see hidden in the ripples
backs turned
all of the people
you’ve hurt


-cdn/26apr06
.

[PrinceMyshkin]

The ripple effect.... How will we be remembered? Good one, Jer. In a similar vein, here's one of mine from some time back....


.

reflections

what if
you could look in a mirror
and see reflected there
surrounding you
all of the people
you’ve loved

what if
you could look in a pond
and see hidden in the ripples
backs turned
all of the people
you’ve hurt


-cdn/26apr06
.

If I'd seen this before, I'd forgotten it. Apart from the thought, I like it very much for the pared-down no-nonsense quality of it.

[motherhubbard]

I loved how the rhythm of this sort of danced through my mind as I read it. It had a much lighter cadence than subject and I enjoyed it. I hope it gives everyone a pause to consider how such small things can add up. I always tell my children that they are greater than the sum of their parts and this is one example of that truth.

[PrinceMyshkin]

I loved how the rhythm of this sort of danced through my mind as I read it. It had a much lighter cadence than subject and I enjoyed it. I hope it gives everyone a pause to consider how such small things can add up. I always tell my children that they are greater than the sum of their parts and this is one example of that truth.

I refer to my grand-children as my "bonfires against the night," not that I think much of the eventual eternal night or feel that I live in darkness, but that is their essential gesture for me.

I’d been out to a restaurant with my son, Adam, his wife Maggie and their two children, Gabe & Lucy. As we were on the way back to the car, Gabriel announced:

“I just saw this old woman and I smiled at her and got a great big smile back. I wonder why people don’t smile at old people more often since it gives them so much pleasure.”