Are
you aware of the miraculous manifestations of the universe? We are all
witnesses to every single one each passing second but we may often if not
ignore it totally because we think they are just mere coincidences. There are
no slight nor little coincidences or accidents in this world. This is what we
call magical serendipity and they can manifest anytime and anywhere to anyone.
One
of my favorite stories in “Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul” is entitled: “A
Serendipitous Visit to Revelation
Island”, a true story that happened to
Noel Phillip Rodriguez, described as a true blue troubadour who loves
collecting beaches likened to people who love collecting shells. Rodriguez is a
poet, novelist, painter, architect, and
so much more. Let me tell you his beautiful story in my own words:
There
are poets and artists who leave pieces of their work in public- like in cafes,
in restaurants, inside the train, the bus or anywhere. Noel leaves pieces of his compositions in
cafeterias and calls them “public poetry”.
In
one of his exotic escapades, he visited the exquisite British Virgin Islands
and stayed in what he described as an opulent hilltop hacienda. While roaming
around the quaint room together with the owner of the posh villa, Noel chanced
upon an array of classic and impressive art collection: Matisse paintings,
Degas, Dali, and Chagall.
He
was stunned when something caught his eye. A calligraphic poetry neatly placed
in a gold plated frame hanging on the wall. The manuscript of the penmanship
was reminiscent of Fourteenth Century Firenze but the only difference was that
it was written in English. He read the word line by line, captivated and then
when he got to the 10th verse, he knew in his heart, the composition
seemed familiar to him. And when he was reading the last stanza, it finally
dawned upon him who wrote the poem. A magical serendipity is about to be
unraveled in front of his eyes.
The
hostess of the house instantly noticed the surprised expression on his countenance. She asked Noel if it was special to him to
which he replied: “Yes, very”. He then asked where did she get it, who made it,
and the woman narrated that there is a bit sad story attributed to the piece
and that unfortunately she doesn’t know who was the poet behind such beautiful
composition.
Our
troubadour poet told the woman that he will tell her who wrote the exquisite
piece if she will tell him how did she get the composition. Noel then learned that the hostess of the
villa got the gold plated antique frame from a friend and the captivating
calligraphy was done by a pair of artists based in New York City after she
requested them to make one out of the poem she found at a cafeteria tossed away
among the dirty dishes. She was stunned when the poet asked her if she got the
piece from Ford Café at Victoria Cove located in Laguna Beach, California
during the summer season of ’76.
The
collector of beaches then confessed that he had left many poems in his travels
but this piece she found was special to him and it tells of a story of a tragic
loss, redemption, and a defining moment in his personal life history. His composition sparked something out of the
woman who was suffering also from a traumatic loss when her own fiancé died in
a car accident that time. After reading the poem, she found herself being
deeply moved emotionally and then she started asking people who wrote it.
Her
life then made a complete turn around, she moved somewhere else where she met
her husband and she kept the piece until
she was able to move to the Carribean Islands with her family after she
inherited quite a fortune from his grandfather.
(There is another serendipity to my story since while reading the
Chicken Soup for the Writer’s Soul book, I was also creating a composition
about the Carribean Islands for a monthly international poetry magazine.)
The
composition of Noel was laid out by a prominent calligraphic penman and
magically transformed it into an “Illuminated” page ala Florentine Renaissance
style by a famous museum restoration artist. The woman admitted that the piece
became the catalyst for the most dramatic metamorphosis of her life and that it
sort of gave her good luck in all areas in her life.
And
this was the serendipitous saga of what we can call as an odd chance meeting of
two souls connected by a piece of timeless poetry.
There
are countless stories of beautiful coincidences and magical serendipitous
events in this universe and we are witnesses to them. After all, we are old souls connecting the
cosmic dots traversing our journey meeting each other at the crossroads,
learning from each other, teaching one another.
