"This satisfies my urgent need for solitude”, I thought to myself as I sat quietly on a tree stump deep in the forest. The scents of pine and honeysuckle hung delightfully heavy in the air. Treetops bowed to some invisible entity as the wind whistled past sounding notes I faintly recognized. I watched and listened, mesmerized. So deep was the connection I felt to earth and heaven, both seemed to merge in iridescent hues, swirling spiraling designs that melded with the remnants of long-forgotten dreams. All motion ceased and a bridge stood before me with a sign pointing that read ‘To The Future’. Millions of bubbles rising from a stream below floated around the bridge, dancing on the breeze. Extending my arm with open hand, a delicately formed sphere came to rest on my palm. It seemed to breathe, then to vibrate, and bursting open, a tiny fairy appeared! “Who are you?” I questioned her, surprised. “I am”, she replied, “Does it matter who? Isn’t the fact that I am enough for you?” “Well….um” I stammered, at a loss for words. “Follow me!” she said with dainty wings drumming the air. And so I followed that captivating creature, so bold and yet so small; that tiny fantasy, or was she (real or the makings of a broken mind or an overactive imagination?) across the bridge to the other side. What lie beyond the bridge, much to my dismay, was a vast, vast space filled with unidentifiable shapeshifting forms in spectra grey; nothing at all like the glorious colors and designs I had seen just ¼ mile behind. “So this is it?”, I thought. “Interesting, no doubt… but so drab, so vague, and certainly not what I had envisioned”. And that tiny little being who somehow knew, said as she handed me a rainbow colors paletteand paintbrush with crystal handle: “Paint the day, I have uncovered the Way,the rest is up to you!” She then quickly withdrew into a circle of vibrant light, scattering fairy dust before its radius diminished and disappeared from sight. I was again aware of the tree stump, the honeysuckle, and the pine. “How long have I been sitting here?” I thought aloud, “It must be way past early afternoon”. Feeling something in my pocket, I reached inside, pulling out a paintbrush with a finely-faceted crystal handle. I held it up in front of me, enchanted as the setting sun’s rays became refracted beams splayed into exquisite patterns at my feet. The light then consolidated, forming an arrow directing my gaze toward the sky, where I caught a glimpse of a bubble, a delicately formed sphere, floating up…up…., and I watched with my entire being until it faded from view (C) Sarah Gallant 2003 |
| ~ The Secret Life Of Bubbles ~ |