FOUR YEARS AGO a young art student entered our DOOR. This month they depart, one of the finest chocolatiers to be found anywhere. Leaf (formerly Rachel) is a wonder, and the moment is bittersweet. They’ve moved to Boston to teach art and to experience a wilder world. Yet they are a permanent part of Dancing Lion Chocolate, and the shop is a permanent part of them.
DOORS are entries and exits. They left a door and a poem.
Layers on Doors, Leaf Comstock 2023 Layers on Layers Meanings hidden in plain sight Everything overlaps Layers of ideas, flavor, Everything We layer bonbons but It's never about that And yet it always is Containing soul Retains meaning we hide But are never hidden Take us for what we are, Exactly what you think And nothing even close We are the layers We can't try to hide Its flavor, poetry, art, magic And in it we all will be Layers, complicated The hard stuff making it all Overlaps and intertwines References because how could it Be anything else
Sum it up, Be the layers Recognize yourself Its all shiny reflective of ourselves So see the layers Understand and know nothing Ever unfinished but let to lie Moments linger the Moment they begin Like tea to be sipped unsteeped At a steep cost Let it go unfinished, undiscovered Rambling on to capture A lifetime To appreciate An opportunity To learn we are layers More than ourselves And never less The common thread is always layers Never too complex but just enough We are all the layers That make this place Layers on layers Experiences on moments, Ganache on marshmallow It's in the layers Hidden there.
We’ll miss them a lot.