Nothing But A Burning Light

I first met Jesse when he was three years old. He came to my school unformed and luminous, a blond headed boy filled with grace and wonder. I saw him easily make friends, learn to negotiate and share. Even then he was strong and compassionate. I heard him sing and laugh every day. He danced, he painted, he swaggered and sashayed. I watched him perform and star in dramatic productions of The Three Bears, The Billy Goats Gruff, Three Little Monkeys Jumping On the Bed, and many avant garde improvisational dramas with Pirates, Knights, Princesses, Dragons, Queens and Witches, Heroes and Villains, Tantrums and Giggles. He built palaces, forts, and castles with large wooden blocks. He drew funny pictures of humans with colored markers.

I got to know him at that magical time of the three and four year old, in the world of the here and now, still connected to the Brahman. His light burned bright then as it has all his life. When I go outside and feel the sun on my face I’m reminded of Jesse.

As his next door neighbor, I watched him grow into a man, that same laugh deepening over time and that light still burning bright. That light that is within us all. That one ever-flickering light we all share.

Paul Redmond