Lady Leigh of the Meadows

Source

Of all the Great Ones who dwell in this world the elves hold Varda most in reverence and love. Elbereth they name her, and they call upon her name out of the shadows of Middle-earth, and uplift it in song at the rising of the stars.

– J.R.R. Tolkien

A VALEDICTION FORBIDDING MOURNING.
by John Donne

AS virtuous men pass mildly away,
And whisper to their souls to go,
Whilst some of their sad friends do say,
"Now his breath goes," and some say, "No."

So let us melt, and make no noise, 5
No tear-floods, nor sigh-tempests move ;
'Twere profanation of our joys
To tell the laity our love.

Moving of th' earth brings harms and fears ;
Men reckon what it did, and meant ; 10
But trepidation of the spheres,
Though greater far, is innocent.

Dull sublunary lovers' love
—Whose soul is sense—cannot admit
Of absence, 'cause it doth remove 15
The thing which elemented it.

But we by a love so much refined,
That ourselves know not what it is,
Inter-assurèd of the mind,
Care less, eyes, lips and hands to miss. 20

Our two souls therefore, which are one,
Though I must go, endure not yet
A breach, but an expansion,
Like gold to aery thinness beat.

If they be two, they are two so 25
As stiff twin compasses are two ;
Thy soul, the fix'd foot, makes no show
To move, but doth, if th' other do.

And though it in the centre sit,
Yet, when the other far doth roam, 30
It leans, and hearkens after it,
And grows erect, as that comes home.

Such wilt thou be to me, who must,
Like th' other foot, obliquely run ;
Thy firmness makes my circle just, 35
And makes me end where I begun.

There must be a certain magic in the air when you meet people that you love with your whole being. These people come into your life and fill a void that you didn’t even know existed and when they have to leave for Europe you just know that life will be strange without them. I met one such a person, Lady Leigh of the Meadows, my most beloved of friends. I wish you well on all your endeavours and I'll see you again, either when you return or when you come visit me in Japan in 2010. Have fun travelling through Europe (which I know for a fact is a scary place because it's not home), make many friends, eat strange food, swear at people in Xhosa and steal any good books that you come across.

I'll see you again very soon :)