a life eternal

Ode to Karim

Who among us has desired the Sea?
Do we simply stand upon Its Shore,
Where the soft sands of time
Warm the feet?

Are we not all souls seeking escape?
Even the sand traps us.
No solace is there
Save in the Ocean of Mercy.

Have we not yet passed through Seven Valleys?
To transcend time and space?
When may the soul
Secure its peace?

Do the tears of love sear our Eyes?
Will the flames’ light subside?
Quench it, O Son of Love,
In the Sea of Grace.

Will the pain of loss ever end?
It scrapes and stabs at my heart.
Heal it, O Lord, with forgiveness
That I may be, eternal.

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this past friday, a beautiful evening, was the setting for the wedding of rafaan and lauren - two good friends of mine here. it was a beautiful ceremony with an interesting twist - the roasting (of mainly rafaan) began at the beginning rather than closer to the end. it was truly hilarious and quite fitting for who rafaan is, and the type of humor that he and lauren have. so...they have begun their life together, and as joe said "laying the first bricks of that fortress for wellbeing". (and again all photos, and videos, were taken by sholeh: http://sholeh.calmstorm.net.)

here's lauren and rafaan processionaling in (it can be a word if i want it to be). the wedding took place in the dan panorama in a room that sort of juts out on the top of the mountain overlooking the entire city.

(the reception table: joe, lucia, kent, sholeh, me and khat (not shown - roya and ray))

(wedding ladies: sholeh, roya, lucia and khat)

kent and i also performed a couple of songs during the reception. lucia was very helpful in holding up the words and the tambourine at times. also during the actual ceremony, the three of us did sing a song...i don't have it on video yet...but you should enjoy these. the intro, said by kent, was not recorded. it went something like this: so when lauren and rafaan asked us to sing some songs, we thought it would be a great idea to sing the three greatest loves songs in history...that we could learn in three days.

Part I
Part II

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khat's brother hami is also visiting. a group of us went out to dinner last night, and he made an interesting comment. to be honest i never really thought about this, but have you ever wondered or marveled at the fact that your family is connected to you for eternity? i think this is of course dependent up on the bonds and ties that you create in this world, and that will determine the strength of your relationship in all the other worlds of God. i feel confident that mine with be with me forever...