How grounding it would be to feel your body wrapped around me as we sway in the Sun. How much I yearn to savour those sublime moments as a rag doll to the force of the ocean waves.

 

I feel so far from the wisdom of my youth these days.

I may still remember the power of integrity, but much of the ease, much of the sense of familial expansion that was so common sense for much of my life now feels so strained as to leave me wondering if im just a pretty shell of the values I once stood on so joyfully.

 

Part of my love of West is captured by this anonymous quote about Eugene Debbs, “That old man with the burning eyes actually believes that there can be such a thing as the brotherhood of man. And the funniest part is, as long as he’s around, I believe it too.” I feel that way about him, but also, I recognized from an early age that that was my role, as well. To short circuit the contraction of the ego by liberating our compassion, and inspiring the work that could have us settle in that liberty and fraternity. Shall we add equality? Perhaps that’s why I often make the point of calling myself a republican, much to everyone’s reticent receipt.

 

I carry this sadness because by the time we met, I had reaped much of the fruitlessness borne by fraternal ambitions in a world that so shamelessly champions extractive strategies and mocks those of us who hope for more as romantics bound for short lived tragedies. I carry this sadness because choosing to be a sovereign partner and not a claimant in the project of justice, I subject my wounds to the peace that softly unearths our shared potential.

 

Although your methods may sometimes leave me feeling as though I’m climbing up a wall on my back, I so value how ceaselessly you fight for my joy. How impatient you are for boundless communion and an uninterrupted life in the garden of earthly delights.

 

I hope to place my lips soon on those hardworking eyes of yours.

 

Love,

 

Your friend, your lover your brother

 

ሙሉ-ጸጋ