The Rainstorm Tore the Veil in the Garden of Stones

I love the sunrise after an early morning's downpour. For when I am walking among the gravestones and their dwellers, I would find a carpet of beautiful flowers in and around the rectangular shaped graves. It is as if God is saying, "If there are some among you who are neglected and forgotten, with none of your living kin visiting, I shall Myself send flowers to your honoured resting place. For nothing can honour a place more than I." Such were the thoughts that percolated my mind as I walked beneath the Frangipani trees of the cemetery.

I did not tarry too long, but made my way straight to my mother's grave. In my head was ringing Avril Lavigne's chorus that was playing in my car on the drive here, "...Damn, Damn, Damn, What I would do to have you here... Here, Here... I wish you were here..." Funny how the most unlikely of music evokes the memory of my sainted mother, my uncle and my friend who now lay peacefully in this hallowed grounds. Any old (or new) tune gets me that way.

I spent a few minutes beside my mother's home. It has been her home for almost 10 years now. For the first time, I bent over the bottom tombstone, which would be at her feet, and I kissed it. Then I approached the  headstone and planted a kiss on the black marble. In my mind I was kissing my mother's forehead.

I may have shed a tear. But it was not out of sadness. For I was happy. The veil between life and the after-life can be either very thick or very, very thin. And on this morning, it appears that the rainstorm must have torn the veil a little. I peeked through the tear in the veil and sensed a warmth I have not felt for the longest time.

We cannot fulfill our obligation to our departed beloveds while forgetting the living. So on the way home I bought breakfast. As I entered the house I saw my father sitting alone at the breakfast table, occupied with the Sunday newspapers. I called to him, "Bapak, I bought breakfast!" He looked up and smiled. I felt the same warmth here too.

Have a beautiful Sunday, sunshine.

wa min Allah at-taufiq

Hate has no place in Islam

Love will show the Way