2c THE TIMELESS CONTAGIOUS TRINITY OF KINDNESS, BEAUTY AND YOUTH

  “To … Clifford … Phoebe … was especially necessary. Not that he could ever be said to converse with her … But if she were a long while absent he became pettish and nervously restless, pacing the room to and fro with the uncertainty that characterized all his movements; or else would sit broodingly in his great chair, resting his head on his hands … Phoebe's presence, and the contiguity of her fresh life to his blighted one, was usually all that he required. Indeed, such was the native gush and play of her spirit, that she was seldom perfectly quiet and undemonstrative, any more than a fountain ever ceases to dimple and warble with its flow. She possessed the gift of song, and that, too, so naturally, that you would as little think of inquiring whence she had caught it, or what master had taught her, as of asking the same questions about a bird[…]”

Excerpt From

House of the Seven Gables by Nathaniel Hawthorne

All the old man had need of to brighten his dearth of spirit (so as to replicate the young man he’d been before his entire being had been broken by sorrows too tragic for words) was to have Phoebe’s light-hearted, positively focused, naturally loving spirit, nearby, and while in the company of this delightful young woman, the old man’s spirit would re-ignite, though only momentarily…

You see, having spent so many dark, damp, dreadful years within solitary imprisonment (innocent of any wrong doing), the old man’s spirit, having experienced naught but the despair of hopeless loneliness, had not even an ember of self trust left to re-ignite on his own, and therefore, only in the presence of young beauty’s human kindness did the old man’s spirit—so thoroughly broken during his youth—briefly revive.

Once the old man’s spirit had been shattered beyond repair, like a lightbulb, his attention could only be switched on, temporarily, during moments whence this young woman's human kindness shone bright as a sun beam directly at him, suggesting that as soon as Phoebe was out of sight, the light switch on the old man’s defensive ‘wall’ would automatically switch his heart broken spirit back to off, suggesting that so horrendous had been the entirety of his adult life (due to his hard-hearted cousin’s unjust self-empowerment), that joy could never again be an inside job …

And as details of abject misery as penned within today’s post linger within your mind, I wonder if you’ve ever spent time with as broken a human spirit as Hawthorne hath chosen to showcase by way of fleshing in the character named Clifford, who, having been freed to return at this ‘late hour’ to the home of his innocent youth, had proved to be so disconnected from compassionate human interaction (in Phoebe’s absence) as to stay put wherever he’d been placed until some caring soul felt need to move the mindless melancholy old man (for example from chair to bed), yet again.

Perhaps you can see why, having inhaled 75% of this morbid tale, I’ve chosen to lighten its downward pull on my spirit by setting aside this classic telling of utter despair in favor of whiling away hours of my quarantined day by turning the pages of any novel penned by Nicolas Sparks until my restrengthened, sense of self, feeling rebalanced (between the heavy hopeless misery of inhumane deprecation and the lightness of a hopeful warm-hearted human being in search of lasting love), frees my spirit to float above fear of that which my one lung may not be able to withstand if Covid should darken our door … I mean, who needs E. A. Poe to scare us half to death when the unvaccinated unmasked populous continues to uncage this pandemic, which still sees far too many crowding in intensive care units, dependent upon ventilators, struggling for breath so as not to die—alone—and counting myself amongst the boostered then hopefully, if you’ve followed my posts, over these last two grueling years then you can understand why I continue to seek insight into holding my bright mind accountable for consciously tapping into my spirit’s well balanced, inner connection to personal joy regardless of the head-spinning, mindless, worldwide commotion that would surely shatter my positively focused peaceful mindset—if my strong-hearted mindful, courageous sense of self awareness was to forget to stand guard patiently and proactively over my very real physical vulnerabilities—

🙋🏻‍♀️Annie

.