Storm Warning

6 8 Y S T O R M W A R N I N G R A N D Y B L A S I N G Perhaps the system Calls for spirits. –James Merrill Last night my son, celebrating his marriage, descended with his Turkish bride from a midcentury Bel Air to U2’s ‘‘All I Want Is You’’ & danced under the stars installed, as if for them, where horses roamed a ranch all bushy olive trees. Greek friends arrived bearing gifts from across the water – songs inspired, a poet’s son from Chios announced in English, plucking them from his strings, by a Greek translation of Nazim Hikmet’s ‘‘The most beautiful sea hasn’t been crossed yet’’ (my translation, unsung). Under the gun of a sobering tomorrow now, in light of Prohibition knocking on the door, a dark river of Johnnie Black flowed freely through the night, till a SWAT team shut down – what – the last Turkish wedding to serve spirits? I saw history made in the name of love. ...