Not just the Fool and I . . . .

J is for Jester, an old friend of mine. 

I used to love to watch his eyes sparkle as he told the most wondrous of tall tales and short lies. Through his eyes the world was a very amusing place to be. At times though, I could see the traces of tears in his smiling facade. But he always smiled and just laughed off the pain. But I could see traces of the tears every now and then. My good friend even wrote a book about a great personal crusade to find and capture the "Holy grail of human emotions . . . . Unconditional Love" Yes, Jester was quite the fool, a perfect fool I might add. 

J is for Jester, my friend

I do miss him, for he always saw the good in people and believed that they held a purpose in this world even after they began to talk. He seldom heard their words but closely watched their deeds. He once said to me that a person is whom they are and never what they say there are. I agree with him on that, it is what people do not what they say that defines their character, don't you agree? See even a fool can be very wise. Here let me share with you a little Ditty I wrote about his first visit in many many years . . . .



"Yes, I had another visitor this weekend. We are old friends but I haven't seen him in long, long time. We used to be real close but time and life had separated us. I was glad he stopped by because he always has the most wonderful of tales to tell. I was not disappointed. He started out in his usual way.

Once upon a time  . . . .

So the tale began, He took a deep breath and started. Once there was a kingdom with a lovely queen who had the most wondrous daughter. The queen, he stated was a friend of his. He recalled fond memories of all the wonderful times he had spent with the queen. I questioned my friend about the daughter. Wouldn't she be a Princess? A lovely Princess? He told me not to jump ahead and that he was getting to that part. I decided to shut up and just listen. The lovely Princess was very young at this time, around sixteen he thought. He went on and on about the lovely Princess until I couldn't take it anymore and I shouted, “I get it, you were infatuated with the lovely Princess now finish your story.” Silly fool. And so, he continued. He was infatuated with the young lovely Princess but alas she was too young to fall in love and he was too young to know. I interrupted my friend declaring “That last line sounds like something from an old Sam Cooke song”. The fool replied that I should listen when others were speaking. I agreed and on he went. Silly fool. Well, my friend left the kingdom and joined the French foreign legion so he could try to forget about the lovely Princess and get on with his life. I asked if that part was factual. He replied kind-of-sorta. After many years Jester, that's my friends name and occupation, returned to the kingdom only to find that the young lovely Princess had blossomed into a lovely Lady. “Blossomed?” I questioned. Yes was all he said. Silly fool. I know he could come up with a better predicate than that. But anyway, He said that the lovely Princess had married a prince from across the great sea. He paused. Smiling, he just stared at me. I took the hint and said" Okay what sea was it". Why the sea of frogs, of course he said with a silly grin. I just laughed. The prince and his lovely Princess were very happy and they had four lovely children together. But then, my friends face lost all expression and he spoke of dark clouds gathering on the horizon. I leaned forward in my chair as he continued. He told me that the prince had made poor choices in his life and had broken the lovely Princess's heart. I exclaimed "Say it is not so, my dear friend". But with a cheerless face he affirmed that, yes it was true. The Lovely Princess and her Prince of Frogs would never, ever find their own happily ever after.


I told my friend that this was a wonderful tale but what is the point? I'm getting there he mused. I said "Well hurry up". Anyway, my friend had never forgotten the lovely Princess and kept her memory in his pocket, close to his heart. He said he had spoken with her over the years and once he even got to see her. What happened? I asked. “What do you mean?” my friend replied with a look of confusion. What happened with you and the lovely Princess? He said that he was married and she was now living in the kingdom with the children and the grand chariot. So . . . nothing happened, he firmly insisted. I am confused I told him. He continued. I telephoned her on Tuesday expecting the lovely Princess to be as gracious as before and talk with me. My friend’s eyes glazed over and fell silent. I reached over and tapped on his head "Hello", no reply. After a few moments he awoke from his trance and continued. Silly fool. His eyes cleared and a sly smile came across his face. He looked at me from the corner of his eye and said “The lovely Princess had not forgotten the jester, even after thirty-five years". Oh, here we go with the thirty-five year thing, again, I said under my breath. I had heard this line before. Silly Fool. Jester was ecstatic just hearing her voice and he lost it, BIG TIME. To hear the lovely Princess say, with enthusiasm that she had been thinking of him. That was it, the fool rolled over the hill of reason and right off the edge of reality and out of sight. After the first call he said things got worse. All he could think of was the lovely Princess. He even poured out his heart in a letter and to his amazement, she didn't run away and not one of the authorities was notified. Man was he excited telling me this. Twice, I had to physically set him back down in his chair so he could finish. But, alas what goes up must come down. "Enter Little Miss Reality" he said with great disdain. I had to apologize to the lovely Princess and hope she would understand. I was out of touch with reality. And what did she say, I pressed. She still liked the fool but they should be respectful of each other’s feelings and situations. The fool said he agreed. Wow, is all I said. I quickly added, You mean to tell me that you and the lovely Princess are still okay?
Yes, is all he said. I asked if he had regretted making that call due to all the emotional ups and downs he went through. Before he could answer I noticed the trace of a single tear that had slowly drifted down his face. I guess I knew the sad truth. I questioned him about the single tear. Softly, I asked him, “I guess you are upset that you dialed her number?”. He said I was mistaken. Huh? What? He said the single tear was for me. He had no regrets. He wouldn't have it any other way. I begged him to explain about the single tear for me. Jester smiled and said that there were only two people in the entire world who experienced the joy of finding each other after all that time and still had the respect for each other’s feelings as they do. He kept on about this for hours and hours. I remember the one line about only two persons in seven billion people on this planet could say they were there. So, I added, two in the universe my friend, only two people in this ever-expanding universe. Hummmm . . . . . . . A universe of two. Sounds like a pretty good thing to me.

And as I walked away, smiling, I thought to myself sometimes there is wisdom in the words of a fool. Yes, sometimes even a silly fool can be very, very wise. "

But, there are the traces of tears on all our faces. 

Not just the Fool and I.