Mestre Florêncio: cheeky smile, boyish gaze

Edison Saraiva Neves*

| April 14^th, 2018

Florêncio Siqueira de Carvalho (who would have turned 86 years old today) combined in his name and in his singular life many flowers, one self (Si) in many and a will (querer) of a leafy tree and support for numerous friends. Mysteriously, he had so much of this everything, that friend of mine and of many. I began to get to know him in 1974, December, Sede Geral, Porto Velho, Rondônia. I had not noticed him in the large wooden shack where the House of Preparo of Núcleo Mestre Gabriel stands nowadays. I also was hardly able to support my own head. Burracheira was coming in waves and I myself was adrift.

It was then that I heard for the first time the Thrush sing. It was the chamada of the Barquinha (the little boat) that picked me up and dislocated me to a place away from there. It was Mestre Florêncio calling and me following. This first encounter was followed by many others.

Whenever we met we would talk until daybreak. A source of anecdotes, of tales, of sayings. He was spontaneity incarnate that came to live among us. A man of rich life, who overcame the greatest difficulties a human being can face. He was a slave in the Seringal. He lived with Indians, faced jaguars, lived for God knows how long in a hut in the middle of the woods.

Tuxaua (top rubber tapper) without limit for the court, a countryman with the spirit of a scientist, Carvalho, as he was called by Sueli, the beloved countrywoman, lived many lives in one. When he went at 80 years of age, he left expressive laughter, a cheeky smile, a boyish gaze much nostalgia, and an example of a kind Heart. Florêncio conducted in his heart the Countryside.

Until another day, Thrush!

*Edison Saraiva Neves is General Assistant Mestre of the Beneficient Spiritist Center União do Vegetal.

Mestre Edison Saraiva Neves dedicates the song Incelença para um Poeta Morto (Dirge for a Dead Poet), interpreted by Elomar Figueira Mello. Click here to access it.

Translation Coordinator: Isabel Cavalcante, member of Body of Counsel of Núcleo Jardim Florescendo (Gainesville, FL – USA) | Translated by: Martin Brendecke, member of the Instructive Body of Núcleo Claridade Divina (Seattle, WA – USA) | Revised by: Patrick Medina, member of the Instructive Body of Núcleo Claridade Divina (Seattle, WA – USA).