7 Esfand 1404
Quatrain 34 of 75
“Then to this earthen Bowl did I adjourn
My Lip the secret Well of Life to learn:
And Lip to Lip it murmur'd—"While you live,
Drink!—for once dead you never shall return."”
Reflection · Winter 1404
The clay bowl in winter is the clay of the season — cold ground, stripped gardens, the material world showing its basic composition. Lip to Lip in winter is most intimate and most aware of what the intimacy means: two clay things in contact, one briefly animated, one quietly waiting. While you live — in winter this conditional is held with both hands. You live. This is not trivial. This is the entire basis for the bowl's instruction.
Drink, whispers the clay in winter. Not for warmth or celebration or the drowning of sorrow. For the simple reason that you can. For the exact length of time that you can. Until the clay in you and the clay of the bowl become indistinguishable, which is not today. Today: drink.