Why is ice slippery?
Nope, it’s not steely pressure of blade or boot
melting a little film of water to glide on.
Or the frictional screech of brakes
instantly
warming black ice beneath your smoking tires.
Most Kenyans that Wooden Woman knows
have never seen snow
or even sloshed an ice cube across their
tongue.
tongue.
Yet there in an African hospital
was the secret of slipping on ice.
Hospitals
are not all the same.
are not all the same.
Wooden
Woman remembers this one with…
Woman remembers this one with…
…oh my…
Two to a
bed.
bed.
No
sheets.
sheets.
Bring
your own water and food.
your own water and food.
The almost makeshift atmosphere
spoke of
turning away nothing
turning away nothing
and no
one.
one.
Go in
with one disease
with one disease
you may
come out with three more.
come out with three more.
The
kind of place one goes to die.
kind of place one goes to die.
Yet Compassion
lived there,
lived there,
firmly wedded
to the
inability to do more.
inability to do more.
Empathy
stood as best it could, back turned
stood as best it could, back turned
to all
that that could not possibly
that that could not possibly
be
offered.
offered.
Wooden
Woman wonders if it was
Woman wonders if it was
the
implied blessing
implied blessing
of white
skin and an American passport,
skin and an American passport,
or her
Christianity
Christianity
that made the infirm
say yes
when she
stopped by each bed
stopped by each bed
and asked if she might pray for them.
Without
exception,
exception,
everyone,
even the
Muslim man
Muslim man
wanted
this medicine.
this medicine.
Each patient
closed their eyes,
closed their eyes,
a slight
furrow in the brow,
furrow in the brow,
as if
bracing for a miracle.
bracing for a miracle.
Standing
on the icy path of illness, they
on the icy path of illness, they
looked to Wooden Woman as if to say,
You have such bright skates.
Put some on
me,
me,
please help me to the edge,
to the firm
ground.
ground.
Wooden
Woman recalls deep brown eyes,
Woman recalls deep brown eyes,
intently
searching hers after each prayer,
searching hers after each prayer,
and the despair of,
no skates,
no skates,
I didn’t bring skates.
I am not that One.
Unanswered
prayer. What does it mean?
prayer. What does it mean?
So
slippery.
slippery.
You just have to pause with that.
Sometimes for a long long time.
*
Slipperiness has nothing to do
with changing the essential nature of ice.
No
matter what the temperature,
matter what the temperature,
there is a thin film of quasi-liquid water on ice,
which
acts as a lubricant.
acts as a lubricant.
No one
knows why it is there.
knows why it is there.
But it
is.
is.
A
miracle—there on surface of the ice.
miracle—there on surface of the ice.
Perhaps
prayer is just a little bump
prayer is just a little bump
to begin
momentum forward.
momentum forward.
And that
is enough. It’s all that is offered.
is enough. It’s all that is offered.
*
“Meanwhile, little people like you and me,
if our prayers are
sometimes granted,
sometimes granted,
beyond all hope and probability,
had better not draw hasty conclusions
to our own advantage. If we were stronger,
we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver,
we might be sent, with far less help,
to defend far more desperate posts
in the great battle.”
– CS Lewis
Wooden Woman
That's a quote worthy of remembering. Thank you.
"You have such bright skates."
This whole entry moves me, heartens me as nothing else has concerning prayer. And the Lewis quote makes me tremble.
Awe and gratitude.
Reading and leaning into your images, I feel you are growing a new genre before our eyes. What might I call it, I was wondering one morning. A dyad, a collage, a collision of spaciousness, image and word and cries of the heart. Prayer.
Sorry–to all who could not read the quote at the end in green, here it is:
“Meanwhile, little people like you and me,
if our prayers are sometimes granted,
beyond all hope and probability,
had better not draw hasty conclusions
to our own advantage. If we were stronger,
we might be less tenderly treated. If we were braver,
we might be sent, with far less help,
to defend far more desperate posts
in the great battle."
– CS Lewis
The knowledge that we are not alone.
(I wasn't able to read what is written in green.)
"…a little bump to move momentum forward."
Yes, the moment of faith. Then it's all just steering. Or gliding. Or slipping.
I found myself holding my breath, as if I too were in the hospital bed awaiting this medicine.
"…sent with far less help to defend far more desperate posts in the great battle."
*tears*
Yes.
i think prayer is…
you know i am going to africa in november…to work at an orphanage…i will know then….