Remembrances of Jaak Panksepp

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Days of Wine and Roses

How small you’ve grown,

depleted by twenty-pounds.

Now I can stand that much closer,

and it turns out—

we are the same size.

Your body threatening

to die of thirst, your mouth

that I have worshipped

dry with afflictions—

what can I do but stop you

midway across the kitchen

and sing in your

chambered ear?

Lyrics elude me,

but surely you’ll catch

the tune of a hundred

Sundays, blessed

with the dear

wondering voices of quail

 on windy hillsides,

  sifted in oak boughs,

   incensed with sage,

    speaking these beatitudes:

   I was orphaned,

   and you married me.

   I fell in a cold place—

   you brought a sun roof.

   So I hold tight, singing,

   feet freezing to the floor,

   toe to toe with your assailant,

   keen to give you back

   every sacred day.

Anesa Miller

Notes

1 The names of the emotional systems are intentionally capitalized, as Jaak always did, to remind us that these are neural systems with accompanying autonomic, behavioral, and subjective aspects that are integral to the system.

2 Editor's note: These clips were taken from an extended interview that can be viewed in a curriculum to be launched in late 2017. For more details, visit www.npsa-association.org.