A power greater

My friend Binh Pham texted me a guitar piece, “Evocacion” by Merlin. He hardly ever texted me, let alone a song. I thanked him for the gift, wondering if he himself has tried to play it. He said he tried.

I also tried. It’s not difficult, medium level, not long—the score is only one page, one F sharp, and the motif a simple line, with some variations.

And then something happened as I tried it. Just a few lines, it is the saddest song I have ever heard. Try it. Look it up. Just a few lines, and the beauty of it will blow you away.

How can sadness and beauty go together like this? How can a few notes of guitar music do this? What is that magic?

I wonder too what beauty is and find it everywhere: a hungry child shaking for a drop of milk; a bomb going off; people cramming in line for food from rescue teams. There is beauty there if you look.

That’s what make my heart ache, and isn’t it what beauty is?

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What is waiting under the dirt?