I woke up with new eyes for the world. Â It was a long night, tear drenched pillows, cold winter wind biting at my soul but I woke up. Â It was a long walk and a longer journey. Â The cataracts developed with age, I moved around a lot but stayed in the same place. Â It made me feel like my travel was real and it was, but I walked down the street not across the river or beyond the road where the trail begins. Â I was a child. Â Hands held down, feeling my way, I felt older than I was. Â I felt like I knew the world. Â I had seen it. Â I remember it. Â It fades so I color in the places where the tea spills and smears the lines all blur, so I retell it, I speak it and recreate. Â It is real. Â I felt it. Â So I worked for years writing and rewriting this fading world. Â I didn’t want to loose its smells or sounds its sweetness so I began to make space. Â I thought I didn’t have enough room in my mind, it fades, so I closed it. Â I turned off the lights and saw nothing. I created in darkness and dreams and it was home. Â I loved it. Â It grew more beautiful with silence and I had to have it, it was mine, I belong in it. Â So I decided to leave a note to my parents and run, into the distance beyond where the sun rises to where my memories do not fade and I will find them. Â All of them and retrace those smeared lines. Â And I walked and walked and left it all behind. Â I was going home. Â Home. Â It was supposed to be full and bright and living. Â It was supposed to fill and remove this chill this stillness that became my desire. Â What I reached was the sun. Â It burned. Â There were tears and there was anger. Â I was alone. Â It did not speak, it was silent like my room on that street where I walked. Â It was beautiful but I was not. Â I had cataracts and only those with clear vision could enjoy it. Â It was bright and I could no longer build. Â I faced its ravaging beauty and its indifference. Â It was the same. Â I was the same. Â I missed home. Â There was nothing left, there is no difference. Â And I loved neither. Â I saw neither. Â So the long night began. Â I walked without aim no destination or hope. I walked simply to move. Â I leave myself behind I walked to love more than a vision. Â I grew tired and fell and bruised. Â I was trampled and I trampled. Â I swore and tore and bore my burden and I grew tried. Â I slept and forgot who I was. Â Who I had been. Â I am not the same. Â I am less, younger than I what I was supposed to be. Â I was alone. Â Utterly alone. Â And a voice broke the silence it was a whisper and sweet. Â It was my name and he knew me. Â From long ago, before the suns ever rose or set. Â Before there was light or darkness. Â Simply words, I know you, and I feared what he knew. Â I developed cataracts, I ran away, I am never home, I am tired, I am not the same. Â He recognized me. Â It is true. Â There was nothing left, ashes, and soot, but there he was. Â Eyes wide and strong. Â I remember him. Â He lived on my street and walked beyond where the sun rose. Â I saw him sometimes when I walked down the road just before the river and I saw him on those bright streets where the sun burned. Â I remembered myself I was a dreamer, a lover, a builder, I was adventuresome and young and old. Â I had heart and sought heart. Â I was alive and traveled and saw the world. Â I had memories and they burn like the sun there was room for all of them. There were beautiful quiet streets and bright bold streets. Â There was sound and smell and sight. Â And I woke up with new eyes for the world.
Poignant. You write so beautifully. I have missed and needed your words, the images that you paint and evoke, painfully – in the way salt stings and tears wounds, and yet leaves a soothing and healing calmness.