25 Farvardin 1405
Quatrain 21 of 75
“Lo! some we loved, the loveliest and the best
That Time and Fate of all their Vintage prest,
Have drunk their Cup a Round or two before,
And one by one crept silently to Rest.”
Reflection · Spring 1405
In spring this verse is felt as an undertow — the spring joy of reunion and renewal underlaid by the knowledge of who is no longer here for this Nowruz. Some we loved. Loveliest and best. The festival table is always arranged around absences as much as presences. Have drunk their cup a round or two before — they were here at other Nowruzes, other Farvardin mornings. They drank their round. They crept silently.
And spring still comes. The vintage presses on. Hold this verse in spring not as grief but as depth. The spring is richer for being seen through the lens of everyone who also stood in a spring morning and felt it the way you are feeling it now.