Epistle To Relatives Gathered On A Greek Island To Celebrate Love

I MUST admit that September 2024 has been very kind to me.

In the early part of the month, I became a “Great-Grandfather”.

Yes, the beautiful baby I had first cradled in my arms when she was only three months or so old, had now, heself, given birth to – a daughter of her own!

She had written to me to say, “Grandpa, I want to introduce you to your new

grand-daughter.” And there was the Great- Grand-daughter, photographed being cuddled in a hospital bed, her Dad and her Grandfather smiling broadly beside her. This newly-minted edition of my DNA looked sweet and innocent, a smasher who recalled to9 me, the beauty of her mother, when we were introduced for the first time al those years ago. Was this baby wondering what on earth was going on?

I mean, where was she? Who were the creatures near her? Why were they so different from what

she had been cosseted by, in her mother's womb; her companions for nine good months? Would the new place of residence be as warm and welcome to her as she was inside the placenta?

I wish I could reassure her that she hadn't undertaken a dangerous journey. But if she could hear

the guns in Gaza and Ukraine; if she could see the colour of the water Ghanaians are giving themselves to drink and cook with, would she be wrong if she began to have doubts about the wisdom of making

this trip to Planet Earth? As we smile at her and mutter words of love to her, are we perhaps not being cruel in proffering her the illusion that we earthlings are nice company to be hitched up to?

Hardly was the smile off my lips as I celebrated the arrival of Great Grand-child Number One when

the prospect of Great-Grand-Child Number Two appeared on the horizon: the wedding of my Second-Grand-daughter on, of all places, a beautiful, romantic Greek island!

I threw all caution/pessimism to the wind (to be absorbed, through induction, into the wings of Greek philosophy!

) and sent the following message to the wedding guests:

“Of course, I am not there with you. But, then, neither was St. Paul in all those places – with quaint names like Ephesus, Galatia and Corinth – to which he dispatched the missives that form a great part of the New Testament” in the Christian Bible.

My epistle to you today is similar to those of St. Paul, in that I am filled with longing as I write – a longing to touch flesh with each and everyone of you, if only to acknowledge the fact that love, at its best, must be “twice blessed” [as Shakespeare described the “quality of mercy” in The Merchant of Venice.] It must, indeed, be both spiritual and physical.

Ancient Greece, some of whose ruins you've no doubt been

admiring, was a cosmopolitan entity that drew knowledge from mall parts of the world. If you manage to lay hands on a book called Black Athena [three volumes written by Martin Bernal] you will wonder, in particular, how most white historians have ignored, or even denied, the contribution of the black world to Greek civilisation.

It's this regrettable ignorance that, in the not too distant past,

would have led some white societies to look down upon, or even oppose, such unions as that between my beloved, enchanting grand-daughter, T and her soul-mate, F!

And what a lovely union it is. I do not know F that well, but of T, I can say that she is made of gems of “purest ray serene” [as Thomas Hardy would put it.]

T loves beautiful things and is observant to a wondrous degree. In order to be brief, I shall only cite two occasions. Once, I combed many fashionable shops in London in search of to a particular air freshener with which to greet visitors to my flat in West Dulwich. I found it and installed it, but no-one who visited me remarked on its presence.

Then, one day, I went to fetch T from her school, (as I often did, her school being as luck would have it) practically next door to my house.

As soon as T entered the living room, she stopped, drew a long breath, and said, “MMMM! Something smells very nice here!” She, of course made my day!

On the second occasion, I took her and her grandmother to the Millennium Exhibition in London. It was crowded, and sometimes confusing. But if you persisted, you could marvel at some of the exhibits on show. As we emerged from the exhibition grounds, without any prompting, said, “That was the greatest day in my life!”

Figure that! T, you have a great Soul. Do as it tells you, always. And you will conserve your husband's Love.

F, you've acquired a Fountain of Love and Wisdom. Cherish it all your life! Never allow it to dry up!

And may God Almighty bless your happy union and may He save Planet Earth from its occupants!