8 Ordibehesht 1405
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 · Spring 1405
The earthen bowl in spring is a new vessel holding a new vintage. Lip to Lip in Farvardin — the bowl's murmur is a spring murmur, intimate and new, the first conversation between your living mouth and the substance of the earth you are made of and will return to. While you live — spring makes this conditional feel extravagant rather than terminal. While you live: which is now, which is spring, which is as fully alive as you will ever be in any given moment.
The bowl's secret is not a secret in spring; it is an announcement. Drink because you are alive and the spring is here and no other moment is coming that is more or better than this one.