Cacophony

Statue of St. Paul, facing Larry's grave

Dean Ericson left a couple of comments on my post Like as the Hart and a Cacophony of Cicadas .

One made me laugh:

Good to see Lorenzo's resting place in summer, and his sheltering oak tree in leaf. It was bare branched the early April day of his burial. I see St. Paul is clutching an assault weapon and wearing a determined expression. About cicadas: earlier this summer my wife and I were north of the city, along the Hudson River, visiting an historic estate. The air was alive with millions of cicadas, buzzing, humming, and flying -- they filled hundreds of acres of woodland with a vast, deep droning that rose and fell in waves of synchronicity. Wikipedia tells us they are edible (the females being "meatier"). Cicada pie, anyone? The Choir of St Paul's Cathedral selection is heavenly. Great post, thank you.
-Dean Ericson

Yes, I can imagine Larry being defended with an assault weapon, even in heaven. His words must be affecting even in the pious settings. Actually, I believe that we continue with the roles we undertook on earth after we depart. That is why it is so important to be brave, and to seek truth and goodness, despite the adversary and antagonism which we undoubtedly receive here, as Larry constantly did. What we do on earth will continue up there, in all its bravery, or its limitations. It is up to us what we chose to do here.

The other comment on that post is Dean's explanation of the sound of cicadas:

It was not a cacophony. Groups of cicadas were synchronizing themselves into choirs. It would start with a few cicadas then all of them in that locale - perhaps they organized by tree, "all right elm #46, hit it!" -- would join in until the buzzing reached a crescendo then it would decrescendo in the space of about a minute. Probably each tree had a conductor who looked like an insect Herbert von Karajan. Listening, you could discern various choruses rising and falling throughout the depth of the woods. It was music, but of a strange and primitive kind, with great vigor, and weirdly moving.
-Dean

Yes, that is right. It was a surge, then a decline. And there were various "voices." And while it lasted, the peak of the surge was loud and almost deafening. So it was music. And this fits Larry's aesthetics perfectly, where he would choose art rather than noise.

But, I think I was reacting to the strength, or the power, of this "noise." I think to travel all those distances, literally and spiritually (as I wrote in the post), a strong medium was necessary. And these cicadas became the perfect channel.
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Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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