Asha Kent's day

[chaig]

SAVE THE DAY

Beloved brother Asha is soon to depart, save the day;
With deaths’ prognosis clear, but wedding date unclear,
His Beloved waits with patient heart,
Overflowing with capacious love,
Save the blessed day;

Betrothal to the infinite one
means moving beyond this world of care,
to realms beyond the reach of woe,
but also beyond our embodied arms,
save these loving days.

Sadness, cries and denial,
at such a premature departure
may well be our reflexive desire,
But for now let’s hold back our tearful cries
against a cork of self restraint,
so we may save these soulful days.

When the dawn of Ashas celestial marriage day does finally arise, then, and only then,
may we uncork that ready wine to drink,
Save each precious day.

When that vintage draught of tender concern
reaches its full maturity
then, and only then may it truly console us,
and for that we must save this precious wine of care
for dear Asha’s wedding day.

With awe and thanks, may we save each precious day!

Here’s a sober (re)statement;
Our dear brother Asha Kent has received, from his oncologist, a prognosis of late stage pancreatic cancer. The condition of his body does not favor treatment so he has been given a sentence of three to six months more to live in this world.

In consideration for the preciousness of those few remaining days he asks that you exercise restraint and share with him the best of remembrance and joy, thus eulogizing while he can still enjoy the words. For those of us who plan to survive his wedding in earthly form, may we reserve our tears, worries, treatment options, etc. for then, after he is gone, so those tears and cries may serve those who grieve, not Asha, who is not grieving.

If you wish, please use the containment of said concerns as an opportunity for introspection. Perhaps such contemplation may be helpful in determining to what extent those feelings are for each of our own futures, rather than, or in addition to, feelings for Asha.

With love and thanks for our friendship(s)

tomas chaitanya

[sitaramittenlewis]

Dear Chaitanya,

Such a moving poem. And a potent reminder of the adab we owe to those whose journey will soon take them beyond the earthly sphere. Which is all of us, eventually.

Thank you for letting us know about Asha. May a veritable tsunami of love and blessing carry him through these days. Hu!

in gratitude,
Sitara

[chaig]

Dearest Sitara
Thanks for ‘feeling the poem’, since the poetry itself is a ‘work in progress’.

& Yes we will all journey beyond earthly care, some sooner than others, but just who and when is beyond our knowing. In such awareness, Adab so tempered, is a wine well worth savoring, …with friends. Are you back in the states after your travels?
abrazos a ti & su amor (hugs for you and your beloved)
tcg

Are

[bonneyr]

Dear Chaitanya, Thank you for the beautiful note about Asha. My prayers go with him on his final journey.
Blessings, Muizah

[chaig]

Dear friends,
When I posted my previous missive I had failed to get permission, yet, to share Asha’s email address so you can write directly to him, if you so wish. I now have that permission so here it is:
asha101@comcast.net.
I have forwarded the posts that have appeared here so far, but feel free to proceed directly from here on if you are so inclined.

I am also including here an 'invitation to discourse with Asha (and other Ziraat Farmers). This discourse is taking place on the Ziraat Farmer’s list which is, like this list, limited by initiation. So if you wish to join that list, and that conversation, please contact Wali Via; (ziraat@inayatiyya.org) and he can direct you as to how to get on that list.

Please pardon me if I sound(ed) too strident. I do not ask that we reject sadness or tears. What I ask is that we place said feelings in a careful corner of our hearts for ripening. Hopefully then, they can be fully shared when those tears and the time is ripe.

As for’ garnering Asha’ I would like us to consider a bit more carefully what it is that we are about… Meaning what does it mean to honor our friends heart’s desire and stride bravely into sober discourse, all the while tenderly ‘holding our tears and sorrow against a cork of self restraint’?

For it is true that from one side of that great river in Egypt (De-Nile) Asha appears very much to be dying. And yet from the other side, where the dervishes twirl, the situation seems very different. How to reconcile that seeming contradiction so our hearts and awareness are free (enough) for sober discourse is not a trivial topic. However, it is only a preliminary one if we are to proceed as Asha requests…to sober discourse intended to ‘Garner’ Asha (or perhaps better said: to Garner what wisdom we may in the course of discourse with Asha).

Please consider this quote from Farid -ud-din Attar (via HIK):
“When a man has a ragged coat he says, “I am poor.” In reality his coat is poor, not he. What this capacity or accommodation contains, is that which becomes his knowledge, his realization, and it is that which limits him; it forms that limitation which is the tragedy of every soul.
Destruction or annihilation or death might seem a very different change, and yet there are a thousand deaths that we die in life. A great disappointment, the moment when our heart breaks, is worse than death. Often our experiences in life are worse than death, yet we go through them. At the time they seem unbearable; we think we cannot stand it, and yet we live. If after dying a thousand deaths we still live, there is nothing in the world to be afraid of. It is man’s delusion, his own imagination which makes death dreadful to him. Can anyone kill life? If there is any death, it is that of death itself, for life will not die.”
The Asha that we have known, loved, and see in this photo, will not be ‘in this picture’ next year (according to his oncologist). But the habitat he has labored on for the last 25 years (pictured in part) will persist. The table of stone will not rot, nor will the iron railing soon rust away. Of course, eventually ALL that is created will fade, even the stars themselves, as the poetry that Wali shared reminds us. But to the extent that our souls live on in memory, and those portions of the world that we helped to create, Asha leaves a built landscape of memory. He would also like to join with us in garnering the wisdom that a lifetime of practice, and discourse has provided through him.
From this ‘in-seeing’ place (in our hearts) I will ask Asha to lead us, tomorrow morning, into a ‘sober discourse’. And I will add & ask that G-d grant us the grace to ‘garner what wisdom that we can’ from that discourse, thus honoring Asha, and ourselves.
With love (and tears, in restraint)
tomas chaitanya