[irtrogdor]

Seasons

The colors flew about me, I blinked, and before me lay the face of an oak, leaning over a wistful river like a tired, aging man. He wore a cloak of gold and crimson, like the kings of years gone by. I saw deer dance swiftly through a meadow; they followed the trail of the setting sun. As darkness began to permeate the land, the harvest moon rose. And in its light I saw a path. It was a hidden path, one of old. All have followed it, and all will continue to do so. I knew I had never followed this particular path before, but it had a strange familiarity to it. The farther I walked the more the beauty of the forest seemed to dissipate, and I with it.

I awakened as if from sleep in a forest clearing; and reasoned that my feet had somehow wandered off the path. I stood to find that the blazing colors no longer flew around me, but that they had been replaced by a different palate. When you looked into the distance, it seemed as if the great forest had been replaced with rolling hills of white. This weighed on my heart, for I had loved the other beauty of the forest. But when I looked closely almost every color was still there! I saw the brown of the trees, hidden under the white. Out of the white a red face appeared, and then disappeared into its home. And in the trees were golden birds, sleeping, dreaming of times where the only white to be seen was that of swirling clouds. And I saw the king. He had shed his cloak of gold and crimson, but now he wore a full coat of white. He still looked old and ancient however, for if you looked just so you could see him leaning ever more toward the waters under the weight of his new coat. Overhead a flock of snow geese flew towards some unknown destination. I yearned to follow them.

When my gaze fell back to earth, the path lay before me as if to answer my yearning. As I made my way down its winding path I seemed to lose myself in its strange familiarity.
The path withered away and I found myself in a clearing. I was amazed, for it was the same clearing the king abided in! He had again shed his coat and was now wearing a joyous green robe.He still leaned over the waters, but only slightly for the weight of old was gone. I looked about me, and I saw that all the white had disappeared, but that it had been replaced by flying colors! I soon realized that these were not the same colors as in the beginning, but they amazed me none-the-less. I saw the golden birds once again, but there were also blue, red, green, and every other color with them! There were also tiny birds that landed on flowers and seemed to have eyes on there wings. I looked once again to the king and the waters he leaned over. It was then I saw how high the waters and risen and how violent they had become. This puzzled me until I saw great heaps of white traveling down the torrent. How the white had all fit into these waters puzzled me more, but only for a moment. It was then I saw the path clear ahead of me. I was frightened for I had not yet recovered from walking it before. But this time is seemed to pull me with it, like a river. As I flowed down the path into unknown, my mind wandered, and I lost myself again.

I opened my eyes to find myself on green grass in the clearing of the king. I was growing used to the fact that the path seemed to only lead to and from this place, and so I merely stood up to see how things had changed. I was surprised to see that now there seemed to be very little beauty surrounding me, and the king leaned farther than ever toward the waters. The waters were very low, contrary to what I had seen before. But the sight of them pleased me, for my throat felt as dry as the king’s new coat, which was bare and scorched. So I leaned over the side of the waters and drank. A noise startled me, and I looked up. I saw before me animals of all kinds leaning their heads over the banks to get a drink. As I turned to go and sit in the green grass again, I saw the path. As it dragged me toward it, I looked toward heaven and asked why I had to walk this never ending path, why I was not allowed to stay in one place and time; content. To my amazement the path stopped its pull, and I heard a voice, which said,

“To be in one place and time is to see much beauty, but it is also to miss more, perhaps greater, beauties.”
I started to ponder these words from the sky when I was suddenly being pulled to the path once again. And though it made my heart heavy, I allowed it to continue its pull without resisting.

Again, I fell into darkness, and again I woke in the place of the king. But behold! The king had donned his cloak of gold and crimson! There were the same colors as long before flying around me. I saw the same birds, the same trees, and many new beauties as well. After a time I saw the path seem to appear ahead of me. At first I was frightened, but I remembered the words from the sky and wholeheartedly moved towards the never ending path, waiting to see what new beauties would lay before me.

[Job 19:25-27]

I know that you didn't post this one with an RC title, but I think you'd get more response if you could somehow change your format so that it's easier on the eyes. I look at it & think, "holy moly! I don't have quite that much time to read all that..."

Do you understand? Even if you just had spaces between your paragraphs, it would draw me in & help me start reading, & once reading I would probably finish it. But without the spacing, it's hard for me to get started...
Hope you don't take it as criticizm - I just noticed that no one had replied to this one & I wondered why, & I think that might be why...
~Claire

[irtrogdor]

hehe, makes sense. originally it looks really nice in the word document with a good font and such, and it isn't such an eye sore... i'll see what i can do.