Robin Small felt the turmoil on indecision in the balls of his feet as he rocked to – Will I? Won’t I?
Footnote: Sometimes when there are no answers, sitting it out for a while and taking some time makes good sense. And sometimes things never make sense but Robin’s ‘rocking’ seems to suggest he’s not stuck. He’s working things out – in his own time. Maybe he’s just wondering? And wondering (or daydreaming) is so often perceived as ‘doing nothing’. Nothing of value anyway. But it’s where ideas come from. It’s how we gain a deeper sense of things and their meaning – that others might just pass on by.
He felt so burdened by the despicable acts of others. A cutting despair at not being able to get there on time to save the suffering souls, the ice from melting, trees from falling down around the corner.
Lost in the shadow of shame, cast by human kind, knowing all too well the dread awful things that come to the weak, the marginalised, the strong – and those who resist.
He carried this burden from morning into night, until one day he woke to a different tune. In the tune he caught himself feeling his own sadness, borne from the quest to save all that felt.
Cast in his own time, he could feel every aching inch of his broken self. The closeness to his own end. Where he surrendered to the grueling battle. Stopped in time to mend.
References: ‘Hope’ painting by George Frederic Watts, 1886. With just one remaining in her lyre – she played on. Little boat reference, the movie, ‘Where the Wild Things Are’, 2009. Original childrens picture book by Maurice Sendak, 1963. Find in Clunk & Jam book.
When the wild things contemplate eating Max, he tells them they can’t eat him because he’s a King. “But you’re so small.” They reply. “Small is good.” Explains Max. “My powers are able to slip right through the cracks.” “But what if the cracks are closed up?” Ask the wild things.
“Then I have a recracker which goes right through that.” “But what if they have some sort of material that recrackers can’t get through?” “Then I have a double recracker that can get through anything in this whole universe and that’s the end. And there’s nothing more powerful than that – ever. Period.”
When Max tells the wild things he can make everything right. They ask, “What about loneliness? Will you keep out all the sadness?” Max says, “I have a sadness shield, that keeps out all the sadness. It’s big enough for all of us.”
( ‘Clunk & Jam Book, 2019. Film, ‘Where The Wild Things Are’, 2009. Original story and book by Maurice Sendak, 1963. Reposted from 2011).
‘Robin Small wandered wide in avoidance of – all things hard to touch.’
(Reposted from 9.10.2018)
Footnote: The initial thread of Robin’s story ‘avoidance of all things hard to touch’, might elude to the trouble he has getting close, or being close with others. Touching – or being touched. Feeling the pain of loss or disappointment. His avoidance of feeling things at all? Maybe Robin Small finds it difficult to connect with things deep within himself? But maybe he’s also contemplating taking a small step towards trusting again – taking a risk?
…in a land of smiles, bad things happened. Children were broken into. Nothing said. Nothing done. And so the innocent grew, not up, but small. But this was not to be the end. In the darkness little helpers gathered spilling rich black into soft white sheets. Tailoring picture books to fill empty spaces. Telling truth that grew much taller than a world too big to fit. Until size no longer mattered and little souls were reawakened by the rhythms and rhymes of songs that carried them all the way home – ensuring they’d never be beaten again.
You’d never be trodden on again. You’d be able to see exactly what was coming. Where you were going. And always have a safe place to fly up, up and away from it all.
Footnote: Sometimes imagining we have super powers or a super power watching over us can get us through a tough spot (Mary Poppins ‘spit, spot’ comes to mind). Wings on feet? Astro Boy? Maybe it leaves her hands free? To do what? Take the world off her shoulders perhaps? But there’s no world in the drawing? Maybe others can’t see how much the weight of the world affects her – she feels it alone. Or could it be a muscle man (woman) pose? Flexing her muscles and being strong? Or it could be a shrug – ‘I don’t know, don’t ask me? I don’t have all the answers.’ And with wings on her feet she’s forever safe from falling – being hurt. Up, up and away is such a comforting thought when things get tough.
