(At Two Harbors Public Library)
“When you remember me, it means that you have carried something of who I am with you, that I have left some mark of who I am on who you are. It means that you can summon me back to your mind even though countless years and miles may stand between us. It means that if we meet again, you will know me. It means that even after I die, you can still see my face and hear my voice and speak to me in your heart.
For as long as you remember me, I am never entirely lost. When I’m feeling most ghost – like, it’s your remembering me that helps remind me that I actually exist. When I’m feeling sad, it’s my consolation. When I’m feeling happy, it’s part of why I feel that way.If you forget me, one of the ways I remember who I am will be gone. If you forget me, part of who I am will be gone.”
-Beuchner
This morning I was reading Listening to Your Life by Buechner and I was so struck by his reflections on remembering and it brought back to me the idea of “poetic memory” that Milan Kundara so eloquently described in this way, “...everything that charms or touches us, that makes our lives beautiful." There have been “…so many faces in and out of my life…” and my heart has been touched by the faces and Buechner hits on something so true - that remembering each other in some way makes us human, allows us to be alive. In some way remembering releases our hearts to be free, fertile, fresh, open, soft and receptive as Michael OnDaatje wrote in his novel The English Patient, “A Love story is not about those who lose their heart but about those who find that sullen inhabitant who, when it is stumbled upon, means the body can fool no one, can fool nothing – not the wisdom of sleep or the habit of social graces. It is a consuming of oneself and past.” A character in the novel, Hana, says, “…for the heart is an organ of fire, for the heart is an organ of fire. I love that. I believe that.” The love story that OnDaatje describes I believe transcends two people that may be enamored with each other as it is a grander thought – the love story that each of us can have with life! The fullness of what life can be, as Bono sings, “…life should be fragrant rooftop to the basement…” a “consuming” of our being in the dance of life. This means that we all need each other and to give ourselves away and remember each other so that all the sacred “poetic memories” can keep our hearts on fire!
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