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| Adelina in the Adriatic. Her birthday today: 10/10/1986 |
I came across a note-to-self written by Adelina on a trip the two of us made to Dublin in 1997. In it, she confronts loss, lamenting the death of her paternal grandfather, the passing of her own infancy and childhood, and then, addressing her future self, urges herself to include her current self in her affections, just as she is now including her family and friends in her all-embracing love!
In a very small tear-stained hand: "Here are some tears because of Ankong, Mum + Dad + Dublin"
Notice that, true to tradition, we went swimming, which allowed Adelina to claim that she had been to Ireland twice, the first time when she disembarked on the tarmac, the second time when she landed on the shore. Who am I to quibble with her semantic pedantry!
Photos taken from inside an Art Museum when we realised that Adelina could impersonate a painting on the wall!
And here, finally is a poem to celebrate her birthday and her funny little note. It offers a recipe for how to write a 14-line poem without ever bothering to pen more than a couple of lines yourself ;)
Dear Adelina, you write
to yourself, if you
still have this
when you grow up,
don’t forget …
and you list all your loved
ones, first
and foremost NEVER
forget your brother.
Lamenting the death of one
grandparent
and the dying of another,
you add:
I miss being a baby
and a little girl,
and then, a love-surge
sweeping time away
– for what is time to love
or self to rippling selves
–
I hope you won’t hate
your childhood and me,
before signing off: Here
is a memory
of being 10 in
Dublin. Love, Adelina Lin.
I had hoped to load the 'rippling selves' with lots of meaning, but got rather hijacked by raspberry ice-cream. No doubt Lina would have approved ;)
