The Leaping Rabbit

Viva la vida. Live life. Or, Long live Life! Join the life revolution, the rebellion against death and the cycle of death.

Last night as thousands of paper butterflies soared across a starlit sky, Chris Martin sang:

          Tonight maybe we’re gonna run

          Dreaming of the Osaka sun

          Oh oh

          Dreaming of when the morning comes

For me it was a radiant moment. I reached up to catch the butterflies that swarmed overhead, under the stars, against the backdrop of the Columbia River Gorge. When “Lovers in Japan” faded into “Death and All His Friends,” a few butterflies still fluttered above, and my heart settled into the shimmering afterglow of hope that follows exuberant joy.

Hope is the souvenir I take from the moment of joy, because in joy I find assurance that the things I believe are true. To quote U2, the other competitor for world’s most epic band, “Laughter is eternity if joy is real.”* It seemed to me (whether Coldplay intended it or not) that last night’s concert was all about eternity – and about embracing the present moment, which is so closely related to eternity. All evening, John Donne’s famous sonnet echoed in my head: Death, be not proud.

When the last song was over and the band left the stage, I gathered butterflies from the grass around me. They are just pieces of paper; they cannot conjure up the same joy I experienced last night. But they are souvenirs that remind me to hope – to keep dreaming of when the morning comes.

   One short sleep past, we wake eternally,

   And death shall be no more; Death, thou shalt die.

              - John Donne, Holy Sonnet 10

* “Get On Your Boots,” No Line on the Horizon

P.S. If for some reason you haven’t downloaded your free, live Coldplay album … do it now. It is so very good!