Drifting to spring

The rain pelts the ground around me as the memories flood back from an older age. Green grass and vibrant trees stretched out in all directions, the sky was light gray and rain poured from the heavens. The cold had been banished and the spring finally arrived. The sights and smells of spring triggered memories of ages passed, pictures, sights and smells from experiences rushed through my head like a flood.

I followed the valley of green to a great rushing river, which opened into a waterfall. Water cascaded down the rocks like laundry being pushed down a flight of stairs. People said water was graceful but sometime it looked like stampeding house cats trying to get out of their own way.

I felt invigorated by the clean, crisp air and the sound of rushing water. It was as if every Spring I had experienced was linked together through my memories. Like punching a hole through the corner of a thousand photographs and running a string through the hole. Each picture would be separated but strung together by such a small thread.

The weather had always been tied to my memories, the smell of damp earth and the feel of chilly air on my skin always brought me back to spring. The visual marvel of green trees and colorful flowers stand out in my mind like a picture held in time.

The rain beat down like a steady drum and I keep returning to that place, I return to the Spring. My eyes drift to the window in my bedroom to see snow and cold and my mind takes me to back to the Spring.

Rain Eternal

The pouring rain, I can hear it. I stare off at a freshly plowed road, snow continues to fall in defiance of the humans who attempt to remove the frozen nuisance from their path. Dirty snow sits in clumps and mounds at the edge of every road and walkway. Winter has dragged on long enough, like a pest that refuses to leave the house or an ex who refuses to stop calling your phone, the winter wears out its welcome.

            The gentle fall of snow is deceptive, it looks like something delicate and pure. The sight of it should calm any who look upon it, but the snow slows travel and accumulates in such mass that its removal causes more hardship on the lives that are already dealing with such of pain. Delicate but consuming, it comes around every year and stays till there is nothing left of you. The cold is bitter, it pains my bones and tenses my muscles. The gray sky depresses and the winter drags on.

            I can hear the rain, I hear it approaching. I close my eyes and I can almost hear the sound of raindrops on my roof. I can still remember the fresh smell of the air after the rain and the cool refreshing breeze of spring. My spirit is tired and worn from years of cold air touching my skin. Some may say the rain is depressing, but I say it is not. Rain is life. It is Water from the heavens pouring down on the people, nourishing the land and warming out spirits.

            The rain will come, when I do not know. But when it does I will leave this land of strife. I will walk outside, into the rain and disappear. To be transported to a place of warm air and rain eternal. This is my dream.

Fallen Star

Wind whipped through the night sky, the sound of the ocean could be heard from across the town. William looked out his window and sighed, there would be a storm again. His father promised they would go fishing tomorrow, but if the weather didn’t get any better they would have to cancel their plans. As he looked out the window he saw a sparkling light shine through the clouds and fall into the water. It was the most brilliant light he had ever seen, even at a distance. Something urged him to go out and investigate. The storm was approaching and the waters would turn treacherous. If he wanted to find the source of the light, he would need to hurry.

William put on his boots and hurried out of his house to the docks, which were close. William was 17 and lived with his father, he had no siblings and his mother died from disease. He had gone fishing many times with his father, so he knew how to sail a boat and navigate on the ocean. Once at the docks he untied a little boat and paddled his way out into the open water. He was in a landing boat or a lifeboat, so he was careful not to go too far out. He decided to be careful, but if he was truly cautious he wouldn’t even be out in the water, at night, with a storm approaching in the first place.

He paddled out to where he saw the light drop and hoped it didn’t sink to the bottom of the ocean. With luck, he saw a faint glow and brought his boat closer to it. Whatever made the light was close to the surface of the water. William reached his hand into the water and tried to scoop up the object. He felt something and pulled it out of the water. It was a ball of light. Warm in his hand, solid enough to hold onto, yet at times it felt as if he wasn’t holding anything at all. As if it were light in solid form, but it couldn’t decide if it wanted to stay solid. Once out of the water, the ball of light started growing brighter.

Holding onto the ball of light the best he could, he made his way to shore. The whole time wondering what he had found and what he should do with it. Once on the beach he held the light up to get a better look at it, grasping it with his thumb and first finger, it was the size of a large coin and almost didn’t seem to weigh anything at all.

Suddenly images flashed into his mind, images of far off places and distant worlds. It was like his mind was taken over by a dream. He saw the night sky, but all around, surrounding giant floating structures. The word ‘space’ flashed into his mind. He was a simple son of a fisherman and the most advanced technology his town had access to was a fishing boat. Single shot guns were a new thing in this world, so William was having trouble grasping the concept of space, planets and spaceships. The metal structure was important for some reason, it had humans of all kinds living in it. As William stared at it through his vision, the space ship, or large structure exploded. He heard the cries of a hundreds of people all at once, then the next minute they were gone. This light flew from the blast and crashed to his world, into the water.

William snapped out of it and realized he saw all of this by looking into the light. The problem was he didn’t know what any of this meant, what the light was, or what he was supposed to do with it. Maybe nothing, maybe he wasn’t supposed to be meddling with things beyond his grasp. He wanted to keep it safe as it seemed important, but didn’t know how or even what he would keep it safe from. “what am I to do? I am only a fisherman!” William asked the ball of light, frustrated and emotional from seeing such grand sights and all the death from his vision. The light pulsed and the image of a tree appeared in his mind. “A tree?” he asked. Then thought instead of looking at the light as a star or something used as a light source, what if it was just a seed. He didn’t know what it would grow into, but he was determined to help.

William ran home and got a shovel. Then tried to think of a spot this little light seed wouldn’t be disturbed. He got an idea, then ran off into the fields. There was a grassy hill that overlooked the town, it was empty and people rarely went up there. It was perfect. He ran up the grassy hill, the night breeze blowing in his face, cooling the sweat on his forehead as he ran. He stopped to catch his breath, and then started digging. As he worked he heard the storm growing closer. Thunder cracked and lightly rippled through the clouds. He finally finished digging and planted the seed, then covered it with dirt. The rain started just as he was done. The rain came down hard and soaked the earth. William laughed with satisfaction at a job well done. Now the cold rain cooled him down from all the work he did for this little seed. He thought about how lucky it was that the light found him that it landed near someone that could help it. He wondered what would have happened if no one took it out of the water. Would it have washed up to shore or simply sank to the bottom of the ocean?

His mind ran wild with thoughts of what might happen next and could have happened if things had been different. The storm was getting worse though and William had to get home. He had a hard time sleeping that night and the next morning ran up the hill to check on the little seed. There was no change, so William went about his day. He had a hard time sleeping that night too and again checked on the seed the next morning. He knew seeds didn’t sprout up overnight, but this wasn’t a normal seed and his excitement kept getting the better of him. For a week he had a hard time sleeping as he was so excited and every morning he would check on the seed. This became part of his morning routine everyday. Though he luckily was able to sleep fine after a week or so.

Williams life went on, the average simple life of a fisherman’s son became the average life of a fisherman. He grew older, got married and had kids and every morning went up to the top of the hill to check on the seed. But the seed never sprouted and no one ever knew why William went to the hill each morning. As William got older, he told his children the story of the glowing seed from the sky, and told them that when they grew up to keep an eye on the hill if they ever got the chance. Time passed still and he told his grandkids the same story. The town grew and the story slowly spread. The story became a local legend and had some that believed the story and others that just thought it was a silly story told to children. Soon other parents told their children this story, but just told as a fairy tale, not told the way William told it, which was more like a set of instructions.

One day, William slowly made his way up the hill. He had gotten old and tired and didn’t know how many more times he would be able to visit his magical seed. He laid out on the grass and looked at the spot where he planted the seed all those years ago. He sometimes wondered if it was all a dream, but hoped more than anything that it wasn’t. He felt so tired, so tired from life and so tired from walking up that hill and began to close his eyes. Before he did, he saw a little sparkle in the grass. A glowing sprout sprang from the earth and shined as bright as a star. William at the age of eighty-five closed his eyes and smiled. The seed was growing and the town legend would live. To see the seed sprout was the only thing left he wanted to do before he died and now he could finally sleep at last. William closed his eyes and dreamed.

The sprout stayed a sprout for years more, but even such a little plant created great excitement in the town. It glowed night and day and the villagers finally had proof that Williams story was real. The town protected the little plant and put up a memorial for William on the same hill. It became William’s hill, home of the starlight plant. Which soon became the Starlight tree…but that’s another story altogether.

Birds

Recently, while driving I saw seagulls and crows in a parking lot. Both are scavengers and seem to hang out in parking lots or just anywhere they can find food. I don’t know if I’ve ever seen them together though. Most people might just say “oh” and continue on their way. Its nothing special I suppose, but here is what I saw, this is where my mind took me.

It was a cloudy day, light rain, cold and sleepy. A single beam of sunlight broke through the clouds. The sky seem more dramatic, it was beautiful and peaceful. Circling the parking lot were birds, seagulls. They floated gracefully through the air and the sight of them brought my mind to images of the ocean and the peaceful sound of the waves. The seagull landed and quickly found a piece of food, it attempted to retrieve the food but was stopped by a crow. The intimidating black bird was a contrast to the peaceful day. The sight of the crow brought my mind to images of death and graveyards. Crows seem so ominous and sometimes threatening. The two birds fought and so began a war in my mind. Light and darkness, the peaceful ocean breeze vs. the sadness of death. The weather was warm, yet the wind was cold and it had been raining. The sky was cloudy, yet sunlight shone through brightly. Opposing forces clashed trying to take back the day, one fought for the peacefulness of a spring day, the other trying to bring a storm of thunder and lighting. The birds fought as if fighting over the end of the world. More crows and seagulls circled overhead, crying out and cheering on their comrade.

The drama of the scene ended abruptly as a car drove by scaring away all the birds. My mind was forced back into reality. The weather was a little strange, but it was just the change from winter to spring. The sunlight breaking through the clouds was just from the clouds shifting and letting sunlight through and the battle of light versus darkness was nothing more than two scavenger birds fighting over bread crumbs. All of this played out in my head in seconds, I reached my turn, took a right and as I drove away the parking lot and the imaginary battle disappeared from sight. It was another normal cloudy day, but for a second the world seemed a whole lot more exciting.

Years of winter

This expression is based of my experience of the weather from the last few weeks. Enjoy!

Winter is slowly fading, making room for spring. It has been cold, windy and snowing for months, but it feels like years. Years of winter sweep through my city and bury it in snow. Everything is snow covered and frozen. I squint, as I look at a tree, no longer able to remember what it looks like without snow on it. The sky is gray and the roads are icy, I drive carefully as I shiver and curse under my breath.

            Then one day as if by magic, a warm breeze gently floats through the city. The sun is out and the world is warm. The ice and snow are gone and everything looks bare and naked. I feel strange as I step outside. I no longer need a jacket, no more winter hat. A cool spring breeze brushes against my face and I sigh in happiness. As I drive I am relaxed yet unnerved. The weather is so nice, yet everything feels out of place. The world is in transition. It feels like spring but looks like winter, just without the snow. I put it out of my mind. Spring has sprung and I want to enjoy every minute of it.

            Everyone is out of their homes, enjoying the weather. Riding bikes and playing in the street. I start to remember what spring looks like, I even vaguely remember what fall looks like as well. With the winter cold gone, my mind finally thaws and I begin to remember things I had long since forgotten. My senses are sharper, I feel happier, life seems sweeter. Whether its sunny or it rains, the weather is cool and inviting. No more snow, no more ice.

            I wake up each day with a sigh of relief, my mind gets carried away with all the things I want to do outside. The possibilities are endless. Oh the joy of spring, oh the joy of the rain and sunshine, oh…. damn…Its snowing again….