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(My Persian rug, 2024)

A Painful Journey

I live a quiet and isolated life
But it’s been one of great adventure
That leaves me now a bit worn out
Although satisfied and fulfilled
Is probably how I should describe it,
For I’m happy with its twists and turns 
Even though I know deep down
Before I can even remember
There is a loss that has flavored everything since
Leaving it’s triggers below the surface
Like an old thorn or splinter
Now part of me, unable to extract.

Today I received an old Persian rug
Remarkable in so many ways
From design and execution
To quality of wool and dyes 
And it’s even more subtle and poignant story.

Taken from Vienna during the 30’s
As a valued possession small enough
To make the passage to America,
At a time when so much was left behind 
And at least something needed to remain
To connect an uncertain future 
With a past that could never be again,
It spoke to me
Through my eyes and fingers
Unconsciously taking in the markers of value
Of all those delicate knots, tied so long before
So far away
Each holding their own story 
A million fibers
Absorbing all the years between
To make it to my doorstep
A long adventurous and painful journey
Like a handful of gems
Sewn into the hem of an old man’s coat
Across the seas, out of one context
Into another and then another
Sustaining something unmentionable
Yet not forgotten.

To land at last in my hands
And touch me like a shadow 
Of a journey I have also known
Touched and changed
Broken and made whole again
Over and over
Life after life
Name after name
A story, the same old story,
We all know
In the secret private space of our hearts.

The beauty of Life
Is how it connects 
And how even when we feel it isn’t 
It can never ever disconnect.
Rugs in all their useful beauty
Show us this
Inviting us to lay and feel 
Something that needs no words 
To complete.

(11/21/24)
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