"Forget the common reason, Hafiz, for it only enslaves; there is something vital and awake in you that wants to lie down naked next to God." from the poem Among Strong Men by Hafiz; trans. David Ladinsky This is the end of the beginning of the strange story of Onion and me, and how we had Hafiz under our skin. I's a red-hot story for our times. The first episodes told of our joyful innocence right at the beginning, and now we stand at the threshold of a completely new chapter in our lives. It was over ten years ago that Onion was given her Eagle initiation in Little Grand Rapids, Manitoba, and since that time she's been faithfully practicing the program of meditation she was given. Now she's ready to go back for more instruction. Gilbert always thought she was a Dreamer. Maybe he was right, and this time she'll be taking Michael to meet his father for the first time, bless her.
Saint Sebastian by Lorenzo Marco (Lordenzo the Elder) 1490; the Uffizi Gallery, Florence.
