Grandma Yaya's Epistolary

My dear grandchild,

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When I was young, I dreamed of you.

I put your faces in pictures I drew.

Little cherubs, with upward glancing, smiling eyes,

loving, merry and kind, without surprise.

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I am old now. Looking back lets me see clearly what I have viewed.

Let me share some wisdom and knowledge that I have accrued.

In my life, I have had many strange dreams.

I have discovered that life is not all that it seems.

Until I was an adult, I thought the world stayed the same,

following a script that cycles, where we play our part in the game.

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With age, I realize destiny does not work that way.

The unimaginable happens when we live fully and well each day.

Once, I thought comfort was stifling and boring.

Now, I understand that peace and love warrants restoring.

Babies are born innocent. From their environment they learn

to test magnificence and insolence. It shapes what they yearn.

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As your Yaya, I ask you to be brave every day. Try to master new tools.

When you study or play, know and follow the rules.

They make it possible to build and improve in our life.

Understand them well, they help to reduce hardships and strife.

Tools help us extend beyond what we think are our limits. It is true.

What we imagine and create, can fall apart, or be bonded by glue.

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Add to what you know you know. You are nobody’s fool.

You will earn self-confidence and enlightenment, a treasured jewel.

Life is full of chance. Failures and mistakes that some call sin

can change the point from which our thoughts begin.

If the connected whole ever feels broke,

work to repair the pieces. Make your life bespoke.

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Sweet darling, your life is much different than mine.

Learn what you can, think for yourself, and all should be fine.

Love yourself, be mindful, use compassion and caring.

Do your best to respect self and others. This is not erring.

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My dear love, you'll gain strength over time. Don't dismay.

When you wake in the morning, get up, go out, laugh and play.

Explore nature and thoughts and your understanding of others,

politicians, economists, authority figures, sisters and brothers.

I believe this led me to connect to my beloved husband Robert Brout.

He showed me the power of weak interactions, there is no doubt.

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My Poseidon, Lord of the Waves, studied the great unifying one,

where particles in everlasting quantum waves, move beyond the sun.

He explored Zen, the Tao, Buddhism and Jungian philosophy,

literature and music, that transcend conditioned cultural psychology.

He did not study the birdsongs of stuffed nightingales,

but used intuition, where weak interactions weight the scales.

Applying the law of the lever, this master in a scientific hierarchy

used high seriousness, to eye life's tragic sadness and cultural anarchy.

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Using physical chemistry, he predicted an ephemeral fountain,

erupts from waves, forming an energetic mountain

from which emerges, what some call the 'God particle'.

It's an elusive nano, quasi definite and indefinite article.

It creates something from nothing, when conditions are propitious.

I may have seen it, but of that, I remain hesitant and suspicious.

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Using science and instinct, Robert helped me be not totally blind.

He demonstrated that time and space are not clearly defined.

In point of fact, strangely, although dead, his spirit lives in me still.

When I’m gone, I hope my art and stories will help you feel the same thrill.

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Robert wrote many a serious poem,

below is one, to complete this tome.

His words carry extremely low frequencies that ring true, my Elf.

He shared them with me, whom he called part of himself.

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The Meaning of Soul

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To know yourself is a mystery.

Each being is a fragment of history.

In you is inscribed all your befores.

And your progeny will bear all that you bore.

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But what was before, you cannot know.

‘Tis the pregnant substance that makes your soul grow:

the ties to humanity in which you take part,

the thirst for knowledge, the love of art,

to till the Earth in the exuberance of spring,

the wonders of nature, that make the soul sing.

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Whom and how you will love and cherish

gives substance to make yourself flourish.

When life weighs sore, sorrow takes it tolls.

Joy is restored by the union of two souls.

Then comes to pass, that each soul does increase.

Two in one, to bring deep inner peace.

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Bear this within till the end of your time.

In you, this love, makes soul’s essence sublime.

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My darling grandchild, I will soon sign off from this note.

I hope these words hold wisdom that might help you keep afloat.

We row a boat gently on the stream.

along the glistening surface, life seems but a dream.

Time is relative, my sweet darling dear.

The measure of a moment, becomes reduced, each passing year.

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As the sun dips over the mountain, you'll see how passions enflame

and mark moments, that pass through eternity, sublimating loss and pain.

May life grant you blessings. Give beauty your care.

Be grateful for loving and being loved, they are a rare pair.

May your illuminated smile hold the vibrancy of an eternal shapeshifter,

and your eyes reflect creative intelligence that thunders the last whisper.

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Feel loved my sweet darling. Always do your best.

Find what you love to learn, and let luck do the rest.

Be kind whenever possible. Work and play hard.

Sending infinite loving attachments. Signed your Yaya, the bard.

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