Thank you.
Thank you for keeping my side all those years that I had forgotten myself. Thank you for staying put, for holding onto my shoulders and for shaking to keep me awake. Thank you for keeping the flame of life lit in my heart for God knows that I had deemed to lose it. Thank you, Adversity, for making me cry. Thank you for keeping me tossing and turning in the night; for always reminding my soul never to petrify, never to give up or give in. Thank you, Adversity, for knowing my worth when I had lost all sense of it.
Thank you. Thank you, Adversity, for frightening me. You made me fear the loss of all that is precious, and thus taught me what is precious. When I has dust in my hair and my feet were bare, you held my hand. When I lagged, you were the ruthless master, the teacher. You were the anti-dote to the drug of illusion. You did not say 'yes' to my oblivion, my obliteration. You were the opposite of all the loss.
I hope you understand what I mean. Dear Adversity, you have stayed in the house of my being for long. Your stay may not have been comfortable, for I have not been a hospitable host -- but I suspect that you expect that in your line of business, your duty. You can only be who you are -- and you are an irksome presence, a thorn, a nuisance, a dread, an awakener, a tricky hint of the promise of all that is you are the opposite of. You are a friend. And, ultimately, you, too, are in service, in submission, merely doing your bidding.
I wish you peace, Adversity. As you must prepare to leave me as an extended guest (oh, yes, I know you arrive when you are needed, whenever you are needed -- though I wonder if there is a space of peace beyond you, and if so, I intend to reach it), I wish you well. I wish you peace, I wish you honor, and I give you my respects.
Thank you for having stayed. Thank you for keeping me alive. Thank you for being you.
Amen!
.ramla
October 27, 2010
2:27 am
Karachi, Pakistan
