Day 21 :: Savor the pink light

August 12, 2008 in Life is a Verb

Mieke Krynauw wrote to me from South Africa:

"I’ve attached a poem I wrote this morning in which I try to grapple a little with the idea of what I’m trying to achieve in my life – as a person, as a daughter, as a lawyer working to protect and uphold the rights of all who live in South Africa found in our awe inspiring Constitution.

In winter in Johannesburg the air is dry and the sunsets are my reason for making sure I leave work to catch the moment when an otherwise ugly city suddenly turns into a seething mass of pink – pink light everywhere. It is fast and fleeting and I love it. Yesterday driving home I tried to savour every moment of it – even though I was stuck in traffic – and it gave me the start of my poem.

Thanks for helping to make me more aware."

This is the absolutely gorgeous poem she wrote:

This love/hate city of mine
Is slowly enveloped in the murky pink light
Of the ending of day
Every day ends in Jozi
And perhaps today
Mine ends.

I slept a little later than usual
Got the ratio of milk to tea strength
Just right
Let the taxi driver cut in front of me
And didn’t even hoot
Remembered to slow down sufficiently
To let the robot change to red
Which allowed me to buy Homeless Talk
From the man whose name I do not know

I included personal email writing
In my To Do list
Phoned my mother mid-afternoon
Just to say I love you
(A daily ritual of adult life that should be factored in by all employers)
Told my forever friends I love them
Told my new friends I look forward to loving them

Read section ten as a preamble to everything I did
Removed myself sufficiently to think legally
Engaged myself sufficiently to be a person
Wrote a small masterpiece in my memo
Didn’t get around to finishing the half-read article on my desk

I left work at just the right time
Enjoyed making supper
Wished I’d remembered to buy garlic for the sauce
Put off doing the laundry until the morning
Read a little, laughed a little

I crawled into bed, kissed you goodnight
fell asleep.

Tomorrow the grief of day 38
will envelope you
but know that tomorrow was why I lived today.

-Mieke Krynauw

How beautiful, Mieke. "Removed myself sufficiently to think legally / Engaged myself sufficiently to be a person" is perfect in its simple assessment of what we do every day, some days more effectively than others, some days with less skin left on the ground. The simplicity of your last day is beautiful, getting the ratio of milk to tea strength just right.

A copy of Life is a Verb will be mailed this week to you, from here to there with love.

(If you’d like to answer the question, "What would I be doing today if I only had 37 days to live?", please do–and email it to me. One will be posted each day until the official publication date of Life is a Verb on September 2nd).

About Patti Digh

Patti Digh is an author, speaker, and educator who builds learning communities and gets to the heart of difficult topics. Her work over the last three decades has focused on diversity, inclusion, social justice, and living and working mindfully. She has developed diversity strategies and educational programming for major nonprofit and corporate organizations and has been a featured speaker at many national and international conferences.

4 comments to " Day 21 :: Savor the pink light "


Marcia

August 12, 2008 AT 8:11PM

How amazing how far the threads of this project extend… is there anywhere farther than South Africa? These days I imagine the world encased in these little electronic threads of the heart; it warms me and gives me hope.

Thanks, Mieke, for the lovely glimpse into your life. What would happen, I wonder, if we saw everything through a haze of pink light?

mary castagnoli

August 13, 2008 AT 9:15AM

….”but know that tomorrow was why I lived today.” That speaks of 37 Days and “the Patti Digh way” in such a few words. I found real music, heart and color in your writing, Mieke, and you’ve engaged me to be a more attentive and appreciative person. Thanks, Mieke. And thanks, also to Patti for being the conduit to so many strong and poetic voices – so many richly real people – so much love out there, isn’t there?

Paula - Buenos Aires

August 13, 2008 AT 11:18AM

I´m taking these 37 days so much to heart I´ll be truly surprised if I´m not really gone by day 1!

I may have a rebirthing party instead. :)

Marcia, yes, I live in Buenos Aires, that´s even farther. *big grin, waving hello*

jylene

August 14, 2008 AT 7:18AM

what an absolutely gorgeous piece! so true to daily life– i loved every line. but this one really struck a chord with me:
“Phoned my mother mid-afternoon
Just to say I love you
(A daily ritual of adult life that should be factored in by all employers)”
having just been told by my boss last week that i should ‘stop all personal calls.’ mind you, i work in a small health food store where i am the only employee and sometimes 2 or 3 hours pass between customers. i have never let a personal call keep me from performing my job, but he is my boss and i really enjoy my work. so i guess he gets to make the rules, no matter how petty they seem to me.
anyway, thanks again for sharing such meaningful writing and ideas with the rest of us, patti. i am so grateful for you helping me to see that so many others in the world think as i do.