Friday, July 03, 2009

Rabbits really do dance at midnight.

One dark night...
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Last evening my friends, Puppy and Kitty came by on their way home from Kitty's birthday dinner. Kitty had on a very pretty pink dress with lots of ruffles and petticoats, which filled the front seat of the little truck they drive - her skirt popping up every once in awhile hiding her pretty little face. Puppy of course was wearing the smart little tux he wore at their wedding, along with his little top hat that he cut holes in for his big floppy ears.
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We visited for quite awhile and waved at one another through the bay window. Puppy was on his cell phone with Kitty, and I was in the house on my phone of course. I explained to them that the doors were locked and the cats in bed and I was just going to fix a late supper - I eat very late you know - so we contented ourselves with speaking on the phone and waving through the bay window, laughing and making silly faces. I love guests!
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Later, much later, as I was just getting into bed, I noticed the rabbits prancing about the yard, in circles and roundabouts, sometimes leaping, sometimes rolling. They made their way across the street into the park where they seemed to chase one another zig-zagging their way through the flower beds, almost flipping their way back onto the street. Then suddenly, they became very still, flopping down as if lounging together, perhaps absorbing a bit of the warmth yet remaining in the day-warmed pavement, they appeared to rest. Before I knew it, actually in a split of a split second, with a great leap, one of the rabbits seemed to fly onto the front lawn again, followed in quick pursuit by her partner, dancing about until they finally disappeared into the hedge.
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I remained standing in the dark, gazing out the window for I don't know how long a time, pondering a few stanzas from a poet I love....

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one dark night,
i went out unseen,
my house being now all stilled.
.
on that glad night,
in secret,
for no one saw me,
nor did i look at anything,
with no other light or guide,
than the one that burned
in my heart...
.
but where have you hidden,
beloved, and left me moaning?
you fled like a stag
after wounding me;
i went out calling you,
and you were gone.
.
why since you wounded
this heart
don't you heal it?
and why since you stole it from me,
do you leave it so,
and fail to carry off
what you have stolen.
.
extinguish these miseries
since no one else can...
.
do not hold me bound
with these so strong bonds;
how i long to see
you;
i am so wholly miserable
that i die
because
i do not die.
.

After my prayer, as I crawled into bed I whispered to the cats, "rabbits really do dance at midnight!" But they knew that.

9 comments:

  1. Anonymous1:28 PM

    St. Teresa of Avila?

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  2. No - John of the Cross - these are stanzas from a few of his poems - I run things together sometimes. I've never memorized his work so I only recall passages in bits and drabs and play with them in my mind.

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  3. I bet you could write a compelling children's book if you really wanted to.

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  4. I think I love you....don't tell hubby ;-)

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  5. This comment has been removed by the author.

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  6. I'm concerned. I think you are smoking hash.

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  7. LOL! No - but maybe the rabbits were.

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  8. Anonymous8:12 PM

    You are the best. Kitty and I had a wonderful time visiting with you. I love John of the Cross, you were the first person to introduce me to him, and I thank you.

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  9. Anonymous5:56 PM

    On the surface--with our guests--we are all cheerful, delightful, and gay (not homo gay), but sometimes down in our hearts, we feel a pain that really smarts :0

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