Sometimes you got to burn to keep the storm away..."
Some of the grandest plans will exhaust the greatest amount of patience and will even at times... force you to find it within some internal reservoirs you never even knew existed. I see things coming to fruition that had me caught up in expectation and even though these things were expected, they still have a way of leaving me somewhat breathless in momentary shock. I knew this when what I was waiting for started to ramp up into reality and I made the decision to take some time to sit and watch the bowling ball roll down the aisle after its' release. Kind of making sure that the proverbial pin drops won't inadvertently drop me. Where I was chatty before, some might find me less so. Where I was animated and present... some may find me aloof. Still available, still "in the mix"... only more divided in my attention. I'm just "watchin" folks and at watch, yesterday brought me one of those moments I was anticipating.
It's one of those moments when a declaration of change hits you hard in the gut but because it's bittersweet... you accept it as a part of life. The day when someone you love decides it's time to move on, you watch them proudly grow into the next phase of their life knowing that their subsequent moves will require them to involve you to a much lesser extent. Not because you did anything wrong... but because you know you finally did something right. This is when the payoffs begin and some, by their nature... are hard as hell. This is when your longsuffering finally gets to bear witness to the flowers you planted so long ago. Flowers you knew would need to be moved to better soil someday. Out of your garden... and into their own. It's a heavy thing... and I am assured it will not be the last.
I need you all to listen to me very carefully. NEVER stop believing. It doesn't matter if they call you delusional for doing so. It doesn't matter who may ridicule you for holding fast to a vision they cannot see for themselves. Who chose to sit with you... or who picked up and left. Stand alone if you need to... it doesn't matter. Wait for the payoffs... they WILL come.
At the end of it all... I see an elegant man in a 3 piece suit standing on a ledge overlooking the ocean. He is alone but he is at peace... and everyone is more than just good. He could do or be anything he wants... but in that moment... stillness is king. Let's get the rest of these pins down... I'm out...
"What does it mean to whisper across space & time? It means to be able to love you unbound & untethered. To love you without form or convention. To love... like water is loved by whatever has the ability to hold it.."
To fall in love sighted... unseen. It is to see and taste your essence without the skin on skin. A reach out from within... into all you truly are. To see and hold the beauty that has been hidden from the world by either pain or purpose. Where the edges are not as rough and the frustration distance has created is tempered by the moments' satiation. Where imperfections work flawlessly into your design with no need for insecurity, fear or doubt. Where "naked" is confident by the flickering of the candle set before our dance. Where the "when" becomes a "close enough for now" that inspires you to want more than just a taste. In this space... who we really are shines on without even trying. We are beautiful... When entertained with a sober mind that is mindful and free from delusion, the heart and mind synergistically work together to create sound expectation. Expectations of passion that revolve around current realities breaking the molds of convention until they feasibly fit into a place of freedom and abandon... into a broad range wherein reckless love can flourish into something you've never had before. All building into an inevitability you just can't shake... nor do you want to...
And when you see her face to face? And you come to realize that the movement of her lips and the beating of her heart isn't all that different than what you saw unseen? You understand something... that there is no doubt about the grace you've been granted. You know then that when you touch... you'll be touching from a reference point that originated from a place of magic. When you kiss, you'll be kissing from a place of hunger and when skin finally touches skin... you'll be doing so with an electricity quickened by passion's acclaim. And because you've been conditioned to believe you might not see each other for quite some time, you will savor every second as every second will matter. It will be both tragic... and beautiful and you will once again experience... "young love". The kind that whispers articulate with a simple sigh that is easily inspired by something thought... or something written. The kind that turns "I want" and "I need" into two phrases that somehow become wonderfully synonymous.
Can you feel that?
That tickle in the belly is kinda cool huh? Can you "see" me now? ;-)
The fantastical tales of Mr. Waterman never cease to tickle the imagination. They pull from all manner of spiritual truth and experience in an attempt to make the unseen palpable to the human mind. Here is one such "tale" as told by Waterman himself:
"As is the case for every human, there is a "veil" that rests slightly above the entirety of the body. Worn as a second skin, it serves as an invisible barrier... protecting humanity from the elements of a different realm. Most thought it was a curtain... but they were wrong. Ever since he was granted the ability to tear it... he now only sees a mist...
For two nights, venturing through this mist, he found himself in a darkened room. To his right, he saw a bed and on it, she lay on her side in an almost prostrate position. With somewhat of an uncontrollable shiver, she wiped tears from her eyes... heavy at heart. Both nights were the same; he calmly picks her up as if she weighs nothing at all and gently paces the room... admiring the contours of her beautiful face the whole time. Every time just like the first. Holding her in his arms like it was where she belonged. She knows him... and with eyes closed, she rests her head on his shoulder. The heaviness on her heart slowly dissipating with every step. Until finally... she falls asleep. Tenderly, he lay her back down and kisses her on the forehead goodnight. The room goes from darkness to "blue" and what was once a part of her heaviness... was and is now his own. He heads back home but knows what to do next.
What kind of love is this? What kind of connection? The kind that makes sense only to those that are willing to "see" what their eyes have been purposely clouded NOT to see... and it is powerful. There is no time, distance or disagreement that can stand between it... or against it. It will always have it's own say..."
It all began for me when I was very young. When I believed in holding hands, a stolen rose from a garden along the way and mixtapes with songs that reminded me of how much I missed her... and how she must be missing me the same. A long distance "relationship" was the first time I truly met the cutest form of love available to the wonderfully & foolishly naïve. A kid in love... you can't beat that. The very first love letter I ever wrote was inspired by her and the long distance we had to endure. You see... I wanted to be with her. I wanted to touch her and let her know how much I loved her... and all I had was a pen and paper...
I wrote that thing like it was the most important thing I've ever written in my life. I drew from the songs of the day that meant something to me and when I sent it... I really prayed she would like it. Well, it turned out to become more than I had imagined. It reached her in every way I needed it to and I finally found a way to have my heart do the holding my arms were too out of reach to enjoy. She shared it with her family and in catching up years later, she'd let me know that both her and her mother would sometimes pull it out of the box it was kept in to read. Folks, you can throw me all manner of compliments about my looks and my body but I have found that nothing beats a compliment thrown about what is seen after you've shown someone your heart. Some time after this, a friend of mine just happened to pick it up off my kitchen table to read. What happened next was nothing short of ridiculous.
This annoying little turd (said with as much affection as I could muster for that one) had begged me to use the letter for a girl he had a crush on. I will never forget her name... it was Prissy (a nickname no doubt) and she lived on our block. She used to hang out with a girl named Rosa and Rosa was extremely popular at school. I never got to know Prissy as well as I should have but what I can say is that looking back... I missed all the signs. Prissy and I had small chit chat from time to time but I never went much deeper than that due to my friends' crush on her. She seemed off limits to me so I never entertained a thing. One day, something had happened with me that made me feel "off" and she came up to me, put her arms around me and gave me the most assuring eyes a sad sot could ever ask for. My hands instinctively held her waist and for a few cool seconds, it felt like we were a couple. I literally had to look away as I felt the urge for a "lean-in" comin on but it felt kinda right. No, nothing ever came of it but that moment stayed with me for all these years... and for good reason.
Yet I digress... back to the letter. Yes, to my shame... I let him use it. Understand something folks, he was supposed to change it up a bit for himself but the troglodyte decided to hand it to her "as is"... with MY name still attached. Yes... this happened. Yet without exaggeration... it made the rounds at school and became a hit among the girls. One could say it went "viral" before such a thing was even thought of and folks... I was only about 11. I had no idea what to do with all that but my friend did have to say that it was meant for Prissy from HIM. In his case... it landed flat. In my case... oh buddy!! lol Now, I can already hear the simpletons regurgitating phrases like "we don't live in the past" blah blah and it is true but from time to time, we take peaks into the past (using sensibilities applicable at the time) to see if there are any nuggets we missed that we can still glean from and in absolute truth... I learned a lot from that experience. Pop phycology has us looking into the past to explain away or find the reasons for negatives affecting our present and I call bullsh*t on that. I seek out the beauty and the lessons I might've missed as everything we've ever been through had the opportunity to makes us bitter... or better. All hinging on perspective. For my part... I will always seek the better.
So what, pray tell, is the lesson gleaned? That there is a childlike love immersed in childlike faith that inspires us to have wings we could never reason ourselves into manifesting. No matter how seasoned we become. No matter how stoic, logical or reasoned... we can still keep this childlike faith and love as a treasured commodity. The difference is that when we were young, we applied it to the unworthy as well as the worthy but as our hearts and minds have seasoned... we now apply it where it will do the most good. I am still that child in the spirit, soul and body of the man whose words you've come here to read today. It has cost me to keep but my return on that investment has earned my soul more than I could measure. You once believed and you might feel the outcome has tainted that belief but I'm here to tell you that it was not your belief that let you down... it's who you chose to invest that belief into. If a stock fails... do you swear off money in bitterness? No... then neither should you swear off love. Believe my loves... believe.
"It all began for me when I was very young. When I believed in holding hands, a stolen rose from a garden along the way and mixtapes with songs that reminded me of how much I missed her... and how she must be missing me the same."
There are no words left in my human lexicon to adequately describe how beautiful and wonderful you are to me. These days and nights out "at sea" have been costly to my heart as it has been in peril more times than I'd like to admit but alas, my Lord has been good to me. He has kept my heart more intact than I would have imagined was possible given all I have faced. I can see all there is to see from here. The beauty of the sun, the moon and the stars are at my beck and call but I am reminded that nothing can match the beauty I have found in you. I can truly say that I have found no flaw in your soul's design my beautiful woman... even within those seeming deficiencies you've been known to fret about. Those wonderful deficiencies that were designed to inspire more beauty upon their evolution. I see you as you were, as you are... and as you will be... and I have no choice but to love all that I have found before my grace-laden eyes. In every iteration, in every movement, in all the airs you breathe... both good and bad... I have found myself enamored and mused into creative passion by your existence alone.
To know imagination has been kind enough to fill in the blanks has left me with sacred scars of both hope and pain. Etched in by the hands of the purest love imaginable. The kind that is willing to leave to be able to exist as long as it can... to exhibit life even in the midst of death itself. That love... unheard of even among the "gods" of old that has scorned them unto envy... is ours alone. Graced by My Lord... even in the absence of physical touch or common presence... transcending all that humanity has lost and will forever remain as what binds us together for as long as we have breath.
As I speak to you nightly about touch, faith, dreams and wishes from our designated star... praying you can hear me from my soul to yours, I am blessed to be periodically reminded of certain things my love: that your eyes are my horizon, your voice... my moon. Your body is my joy and your passion... is my muse. But alas your heart my love... is my sun. The thought that in some way it beats just a little faster for me... sustains my own in its desire just the same. I pray my travels will not keep much longer as I long to finally hold you in my arms. "Someday"... come soon...
