Sunday, July 12, 2009

The dark night and the light that was unexpected

The Atlas of Curiosities: Part 22

The night was dark.  Indeed, there was not a single star in the sky. We wandered along a dirt road, without a sense of which direction would lead us to our shelter for the night.  Every noise was caused a deep fear to seize our chests, and turn our heads.

It would not be correct to say that we were close to ceasing in our efforts, or even that we were on the brink of collapse.  We do not know what it would be to utterly concede, and we do not know what it would be to see our vision of the world fade.  And yet, during that dark night, we felt as if another light, an internal light, had begun to fade.

As our footsteps were all that remained sedentary during that time, we listened to their plodding advance, taking comfort in their regularity.

Quite suddenly, and as if it was imagined, a dim light cut through the tangle of trees and presented itself to our eyes.

As we drew closer, we could see the light was leaving the window of a small cabin, not far off the road we were travelling.

We ran to it, envisioning a warm hearth and hot a meal.  A bed to rest our legs, or at the very least, a safe place for the night.

Arriving at the door, however, and with the cold wind at our backs, we reached no reply to our repeated knocking at the door.  Finally, and in what we will admit was desperation, we opened the door without permission.

Inside, we found no furniture. No light, no fire.  There was no food, no water, no warm place to sleep.  There were no amenities whatsoever.  What we found was a small wooden space alive with the light of ten thousand fireflies.  Spinning and turning in that dark night, when we had thought that we were alone.