A dead phone line...

The phone connected after the first ring and the voice that answered trembled. The sales pitch ended mid sentence when I realized that the old man on the other end was tired and certainly not interested in anything i was selling. He sounded worn out and i thought about hanging up the phone. But then he asked me my name and i told him. And after a minute of listening to a silent receiver i asked if he was ok. He told me that he was exhausted and restless. He told me about his job. How he had at least ten more years in a career he never chose, but he was turning fifty tomorrow and had kids and a dog and a house he couldn't afford. He was broken and poor and floating through life in all the wrong ways. His wife hated him for being boring, his kids never called, and he didn't know if he could take one day more. "If this is what life is really like kid, get out while you still can," he said. Speechless, i held the phone and he thanked me for listening and hung up.

I left the next day in my car with a handful of cash and a bottle of water and just drove...

Part VIII...

He walked quickly through trees and around trees, all the while watching for the flashing glow that would warn him of anything approaching. Nothing happened however, and as he began to see the glow of the huge tree growing brighter and closer, he relaxed.
And then, all of a sudden, he was in a clearing and there stood the great tree before him in all of its red pulsing brilliance. Jonah began to walk to the tree. After a few steps he noticed small shapes lying in the reddish grass. He approached one for a better look and saw a small furry body lying motionless. It looked like a cross between a monkey and a raccoon. It had long arms and legs, a long tail, and its head was round with a small snout. The snout was covered in white stripes, as was the head, which stretched across the face and widened down the back.
There were what seemed to be primitive tools shaped from branches and stones lying here and there in the field. Jonah now saw a number of these little furry shapes lying here and there. He couldn’t tell if the one he stood next to was sleeping or not so he stepped gingerly around it and began to walk towards the tree again, taking slow careful steps.
Finally Jonah reached the tree and stared up. The trunk of the tree was extremely wide and stretched high into the air. Jonah realized that the tree’s branches covered the entire clearing and shone so brightly that it seemed almost daylight. The light of the tree seemed to emanate from a hole in the trunk just above Jonah’s head.

Idealism...

I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. Some of them hurtful, some very thoughtful. Idealistic. A romantic. A romantic idealist. These are the words that were thrown out and struck me recently. The funny thing, to me, was that the title wasn’t meant to be a compliment necessarily. I find that to be disheartening. I listen to my friends whose hearts I deeply admire. Whose minds I deeply respect. They all seem to be echoing the same cry for something beautiful and perfect and true. True love, perfect romance, a beautiful intertwining of souls and bodies into one wonderful shape. Is that too much to ask? “Yes” is the answer I receive far too often. The majority of the time, to be perfectly honest. And I sit wondering what my flaw is. What my curse is. To hold out so much hope for something so unreasonable. The fact is that I’ve heard those stories of perfect harmonious love affairs that led to perfect harmonious marriages. They exist somewhere in the cracks of the broken and painful failings. They do exist. For me though? I’m not sure. I’d like to think so, but the truth is that it’s quite possible that they will never come true. My only comfort is that I know somebody who holds my life, and he has my best interests at heart. My cry to all those hurting and hoping is to always, always remember that our idealism is not merely our stretching imagination, but the intended reality that was meant for all of us.

untitled

I touched the untouchable,
I kissed the unkissable,
and her hair swallowed the night,
the moon's light,
and shone it through her eyes,
perfect and bright,
and i watched, illuminated,
until I could no longer see
and she took my hand
and led me through life,
to peace and rest
and warmth and breath.