tavie.com

She meant so much to me. A Wrinkle in Time was the first book of hers I read, of course, but then I gobbled just everything I could get my hands on (except for a few of her theological nonfiction works.) And her faith, while apparent in her work, never clobbered you over the head; it just lent texture to it, richness. She had a beautiful soul, that's all. It shone through everything she wrote. She inspired me. Her writing style influenced the way I think and speak and write, I know it did. I read and reread her books so many times that my copies are all tattered, underlined rags held together by tape (except for the few precious signed hardcover copies.)

I wrote her a letter when I was about 13, and enclosed a portrait of her I'd drawn, and received a long, detailed response. I met her at a couple of book signings (and I'm not a "book signings" person at all) and the meetings thrilled me, just the fact of standing next to her delicate presence and looking into her warm eyes made me feel good. I remember especially when she got my book and read the sticky aloud, "Tavie", and my mom, standing next to me said, "I named her Octavia but she calls herself Tavie" and Madeleine looked up and smiled a gentle smile and said, "Well, that's all right too!" It was a simple exchange but it meant everything to me, you know?

I want to just go reread everything of hers I can find. I think A Ring of Endless Light may help. Here's a poem from it, written by the 15-year-old heroine of that novel:

The earth will never be the same again.
Rock, water, tree, iron share this grief
As distant stars participate in pain.
A candle snuffed, a falling star or leaf,
A dolphin death, O this particular loss
Is Heaven-mourned; for if no angel cried,
If this small one was tossed away as dross,
The very galaxies then would have lied.
How shall we sing our love's song now
In this strange land where all are born to die?
Each tree and leaf and star show how
The universe is part of this one cry,
That every life is noted and cherished,
And nothing loved is ever lost or perished.

-Madeleine L'Engle

Labels: madeleine l'engle

Why are you in Tavie's head? 11:24 PM | shower me with attention