The mirth of sand in a land of desolation
footprints to the distance from a beast of burden
the seasons of fire and ice
of smoldering clouds and rings of smoke
The word mirth is synonymous to the words happiness, pleasure and joy. Having gone to every corner of this earth, I can tell you that there is only one thing that can be happy in any desert. It is no other than the very durable and way cool looking animal we know as the Camel. Someone once said, “A Camel is a horse that was made by committee.” Along those lines, I can’t think of a committee that is more impressive than the Three Stooges - Manny, Moe and Curly. Can you? I’m not saying the Three Stooges invented the Camel, but it comes pretty close. Did you see how those three guys punch each other in the face all the time and still come out OK on the next episode? If they were to create an animal it would be certainly as rugged as their faces like the Camel.
In any event, this reminds me of a trip I once made to the Middle East. Because of a bad deal, I ended up with the short end of the stick – a curse, even. There are some curses that are regional in effect. For instance, if you’re in California and someone were to try to cast a spell on you by saying, “May the fleas of a thousand Camels find your tent”, you know you don’t have to worry about it because we don’t have Camels in California. That’s a no-brainer. But it’s a different story altogether if you are in a Middle Eastern dessert and you have a business deal that went south. That’s when you start worrying about the curse of the itchy fleas. One flea can do some damage, but a thousand of them – watch out.
I was trying to cut a deal with this merchant at a bazaar to purchase some knickknacks. I heard through a local contact that he can get me a pretty good deal on some Rolex watches and arranged to purchase a half dozen to add to my collection. For precaution, I looked at the bottom of the watches and the darn thing said it was “Made in China”. I told the guy, “Hey, there ain’t no Rolex factories in China, dude”. He said that there was because he was there himself as a V.I.P. Guest and even said “I swear to God”. I told him that I didn’t believe him one bit. That’s when all hell broke loose. Next thing I know, I was confronted by a pissed off group comprised of three generations of his family and that’s when I got the flea curse. Those tiny buggers were waiting for me in my motel room. I woke up in the middle of the night screaming for some itch medication but nobody spoke English. By the time the flea attack was over, I basically looked like and felt like a leper.
Anyway, in the last two lines we see the words “fire”, “smoldering clouds” and “rings of smoke”. All that the Yestradamus needed to add on there was a paying customer at a local liquor store and you’ll have yourself a smoker with a bad smoker’s cough in the morning. Which, once again, brings us back to the Camel because if I was a smoker, I’d probably smoke Camels too – it’s cheaper.
What Yestradamus is trying to tell us is if you are itching (fleas) for a cigarette (Camel), don’t do it. Give the temptation some time (Rolex) to disappear on its own. If it persists, try to watch oldies and goodies comedy shows (Three Stooges) – it might entertain you long enough to forget you want to have a cigarette. Because, if you don’t and you are not able to control the urge, you might just check out a little earlier than you had initially planned (God).
(Analyst 147X)
