Companionship
Companionship comes in many forms. It is one of the sweetest aspects of being separated into differentiated bodies, that we have the chance to observe across the gap, appreciate the charge created by poles of difference.
When finding a true friend in form, I am always delighted by their utter uniqueness, their distinctness from me, what makes them foreign, their own broken chip of light, no part of my body, and me no part of theirs.
I don’t often acknowledge the benefits of being separate, but friendship is one of them. In our distinctness we can delight in the combination, like two colors that go well paired together.
My invitation to you:
Think of someone, human or animal, whom you consider a companion in this lifetime. Honor them in an art piece.
Two possible mindsets may be helpful.
Option 1 would be to honor them in a kind of celebratory cascade of words. Feeling free to be rapturous, over the top.
A reference for this form of celebration could be Shakespeare’s sonnet 18.
Option 2 would be to write the song, poem or make the art piece as a kind of letter or message to them in particular, perhaps full of all the unsayable things.
A (sad) reference for this kind of honoring could be the Emmylou Harris song Boulder to Birmingham, written to honor her mentor Gram Parsons.
My example below is about the sweet kind of togetherness that’s only possible because we’re so fathomlessly divided.
Thanks for listening, friend. Wishing you many wonderful companions.
Lyrics
Take me in take me in, I am a frayed hem
and I’m too far from the spindle or the spool
I like you, I like you, do you like me?
well I wanna be around you, any day that I can
So hold my hand, sing me a good song, and I’ll hold your hand as I sing along.
Wake me up, wake me up, I’m in a long dream
its voice is sing song in my ear
I said wake me up, wake me up, I’m in a long dream
and it’s too hard to remember that it’s only a dream.
So hold my hand, sing me a good song, and I’ll hold your hand as I sing along.
Baby june, baby joon, you are a good egg,
from the golden hen, I mean, I mean, the golden goose
I like you, I like you, do you like me?
well I wanna be around you, any way that I can.
So hold my hand, sing me a good song, and I’ll hold your hand as I sing along.
—
infinite credits for this song to merilee philips & to the irreplaceable mike billmire
Thumbnail image is of a William Morris design