Saying the Said

July, 2015

“The Saying, before stating a Said – and even the saying of a Said – is the approach of the other and already testimony.” - Emmanuel Levinas

Moving towards; I gesture.  Tentatively.  I smile.  There is exquisite beauty in every face.  I’m drawn to eyes deep and curious.  My head tilts, unsure but eager to ask questions.  Who are you?  Where do you come from? What languages do you speak? 

The bangles dance on delicate wrists in this place of colour, spice and fragrance.  I am a traveller.  I am lost.  I move forward to understand what has been said.  The response is yes.  I’ve already forgotten my questions.  Of course the response is yes.  We share the same humanity and grief; the same inquisitiveness and brokenness.  Our testimony of a shared world holds common ground. 

“When are you leaving?” asks my new friend.  “In four more days, I return home” I answer.  I think about home and the faces of my husband, children, family and friends filter through my thoughts.  I think of hard conversations yet to be had; of laughter yet to be shared: of the bountiful gift of friendship, fraught with complexity and yet in the end, so simple as a moving towards; a gesture.