It's the most
extraordinarily
beautiful warm summer's day
imaginable.
The area is ringed with a cathedral of craggy
mountains - as if they were specially placed here millennia ago, in
readiness for this moment, to showcase this olive tree, one olive
tree among hundreds in this olive orchard. Her
presence
is everywhere. It's palpable. She's in the very air
pungent with the bouquet of olive leaves which fills
my nose and lungs. I
breathe
in deeply, as if to inhale as much of her as I can.
At first, all I can do is
stand
flat-footed and look at it, take it in, this olive tree she has
become - which is not a whole lot different than the way all I
could do was
stand
and look at her when I first laid eyes on her. Then, asking
permission, I lean against her trunk, going totally limp, feeling
her bark's soft roughness against my cheek. Something leaves me, a
sadness
I suppose. I
stand
here, completely
emptied
... until the
emptiness
is filled with a
love
which I notice (it's very clear) has
transcended
the arbitrary veil between life and
death.
I've let her go. Yet she's all ours now.
Again asking permission, I
sit
down under it / her, enjoying her shade, experiencing a very
special
conversation
with her. She is not here and yet she is here. The fact is
she is more here now and more
present
now than many of the people I interact with daily are. I catch
myself thinking how otherworldly this is ... until I
realize my
interpretation
is getting in the way. So I give it up, and I just
sit
here, being with her,
being love with
her.
"I love you"
I think to her. "I adore you" she's saying to me. It's
so perfect. After all, that's what's left to say when you've said
everything else.
Entire
worlds
have come and gone since I sat down. It seems like I've been
sitting
here in this cathedral, in this amphitheatre, forever. And
now it's time to go. Before I leave, I pluck a
generous
sprig of olive leaves to take home to the
Cowboy Cottage
with me. I will press them between the pages of a heavy book. I
want them for their pungent bouquet which, when I
breathe
it in deeply, will fill my nose and lungs all over again, allowing
me to inhale her zesty freshness again any time I want to.
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