And has the last word, but …

In the mailbox this morning: Ah, yes. There is the moment of the “but.” The moment when something outside the pale of our own dreams, desires, expectations, intrudes. “But this wasn’t in my plans! But this is not what I had in mind!” … In some form or another, whether subtle or huge, the “but” arrives to thwart our desire. – Noelle Oxenhandler, in “Ah, but the breezes...”  Tricycle (online) July 2, 2021 (originally posted as part of the Winter issue, 2002).

But brings life’s big question: Can I include the outside, alien thing in the embrace of the moment-by-moment? Our desires are always “and,” and stand opposed to the “but” seeming always to butt-in. But there is also Rilke:

Fear not suffering, the sadness—
Give it back to the weight of the earth.
The mountains are heavy, heavy the oceans.
Ah, but the breezes, ah, but the spaces— 

Breezes and spaces.  And has the last word.