BONJOUR, JE M’APPELLE, Anne. In terms of surprises, you can categorize them into two: the good and the bad. But what do they have in common? Both can make your heart pound like it needs to come out of your chest, just like an unsaid truth that needs to be set free.
One of my favorite poets in the Victorian era, Christina Rossetti, has this poem entitled, “What Are Heavy?” and it only consists of a stanza.
“What are heavy? sea-sand and sorrow:
What are brief? today and tomorrow:
What are frail? Spring blossoms and youth:
What are deep? the ocean and truth.”
“No one knows how deep an ocean is, but anyone knows how deep their truth can go.”
What does this passage have to do in connection with what I am trying to say about surprises? These lines talk about how our lives dwell instantly into so many details and unnecessary explanations. Just a general overview, however, like the sharp snapping of one’s fingers when someone wants to make a point or catch your attention.
Heavy. A surprise has its own weight. Especially, because it’s unexpected. The inevitable act of surprise might be heavy on the heart because it aches with happiness. It might also be heavy because of the intense overload of feelings that you can’t decipher due to being overwhelmed.
Brief. The momentary rush of emotions happens during the surprise. Hmmm, however, no one knows if it will bring extreme joy or sorrow to a person who’s at the receiving end of this action. Rossetti pictured a moment into time, today and tomorrow, a short amount of time being dragged upon is still time being wasted through the 24 hours of the day— ultimately carrying over to the next 24 hours of tomorrow. Hence, a moment that can be stretched into bigger and wider lengths, as such, a whole story.
Frail. Like how Rossetti swiftly described it, like Spring blossoms and youth— so fragile, so delicate, and so true. A surprise can be considered a party popper or a time bomb. It might pop and provide extreme joy and then when you clean up the colorful pieces of foil paper, you’re still happy because it’s a joyful event. On the latter though, if it’s a time bomb, nothing, after it explodes; there’s nothing left to fix nor clean up.
Deep. The ocean can get darker and darker as you go deeper. The truth unfolds even more as you dig for other pieces of information or as you construct your truth, you might even beat the depths of any kind of body of water there is. No one knows how deep an ocean is, but anyone knows how deep their truth can go.
Therefore, what’s the whole point of all of these? Was it really the intricate details of a surprise? Actually, yes but more on something else. Mon ami, do not waste your time in making something, and most importantly, someone feel the depths of sea-sand and sorrow. Do not disrupt the brief hours of the day and the plans for tomorrow, just because. Do not crush nor abuse the frail kindness that was gifted by God. Do not drown people with you with your own truth. Because that’s unfair, mon ami, to the people you’ll drag, drown, and disturb. Time is valuable, use every second sagely and make joyful surprises.
Email me at thebedan_managingeditor@sanbeda.edu.ph