10 Ordibehesht 1405
Quatrain 36 of 75
“For in the Market-place, one Dusk of Day,
I watch'd the Potter thumping his wet Clay:
And with its all obliterated Tongue
It murmur'd—"Gently, Brother, gently, pray!"”
Reflection · Spring 1405
The Potter in spring is at the beginning of the season's work — new clay, fresh water, the wheel turning in the early-year light. The clay murmurs gently in spring because it holds the memory of everything it was before it was dug from the ground. Brother is the spring word. The potter and the clay are brothers in spring because both are new, both still soft and responsive to the other.
In Farvardin, this verse is an instruction for how to be with other people: gently. They are wet clay. So are you. The becoming is underway. The hands that shape are the same hands that will be shaped. Be careful. Be kind.