"Tell me tales," she said, her cheeks flushed with the excitement and
the wind's kiss. "Tell me about the land when it was young and
fruitful."
But how does one describe the azure of the endless sky, dotted with puffs of white? How does one paint pictures of leafy green arms stretched up in ecstasy, ready to embrace the oceanic heavens? Where do I find the words to elucidate the myriad of blood nourished flowers, their petals like so many dancing princesses across the viridian ballroom of the earth?
She tugged at my sleeve, looking up at me with her, too wide, hazel eyes and I knew. Taking her hand, I led her up to the crest of the hill. Below us lay the chessboard of our reality, stretched as far as the eye could see. The wind swept past us, an invisible ocean, its voice a whisper.
"When the earth was new," I told her, my hand sweeping across the landscape as if I were a painter. "the Gods set about forging existence. They began with the fields and the prairies, dressing the earth in green. They adorned her with crowns of mountains, they christened her with an empyrean of stars, they gave her a voice as soft as silence."
"The earth was a goddess, created from the mist of nothingness and the musing of those more ancient than she. They pressed themselves into the flesh of her and grew as trees, reaching up, always reaching, as if to embrace her. The rivers sprang from her tears, the flowers from the spilled blood of the first peoples, clouds from her dreams."
"The moon stood to guard her and the sun stood to warm her. The jewels in her azure hair fell to the earth, gems to bless her birth, a dowry to those who would come after her."
"Who will come after the Earth, Momma?" she said, her small hand clasped in mine and her eyes roaming the rolling hills before us.
"Earth gives birth to earth, my love. Before this world there were others and many will be born after she ends."
Standing in silence, we gazed out across the emptiness, witnesses to the expanse of our existence. We watched the trees as they fell to the rhythm of axes. They cascaded to the forest floor like evergreen whales diving below the water. We watched as the torches set the grass to leaping red demons. Their destructive dance twisted and rippled across the fabric of the earth. Before we knew it, all that had been green and fragrant had been replaced by cold pavement and polluted air.
"Who will come after the Earth, Momma?"
But how does one describe the azure of the endless sky, dotted with puffs of white? How does one paint pictures of leafy green arms stretched up in ecstasy, ready to embrace the oceanic heavens? Where do I find the words to elucidate the myriad of blood nourished flowers, their petals like so many dancing princesses across the viridian ballroom of the earth?
She tugged at my sleeve, looking up at me with her, too wide, hazel eyes and I knew. Taking her hand, I led her up to the crest of the hill. Below us lay the chessboard of our reality, stretched as far as the eye could see. The wind swept past us, an invisible ocean, its voice a whisper.
"When the earth was new," I told her, my hand sweeping across the landscape as if I were a painter. "the Gods set about forging existence. They began with the fields and the prairies, dressing the earth in green. They adorned her with crowns of mountains, they christened her with an empyrean of stars, they gave her a voice as soft as silence."
"The earth was a goddess, created from the mist of nothingness and the musing of those more ancient than she. They pressed themselves into the flesh of her and grew as trees, reaching up, always reaching, as if to embrace her. The rivers sprang from her tears, the flowers from the spilled blood of the first peoples, clouds from her dreams."
"The moon stood to guard her and the sun stood to warm her. The jewels in her azure hair fell to the earth, gems to bless her birth, a dowry to those who would come after her."
"Who will come after the Earth, Momma?" she said, her small hand clasped in mine and her eyes roaming the rolling hills before us.
"Earth gives birth to earth, my love. Before this world there were others and many will be born after she ends."
Standing in silence, we gazed out across the emptiness, witnesses to the expanse of our existence. We watched the trees as they fell to the rhythm of axes. They cascaded to the forest floor like evergreen whales diving below the water. We watched as the torches set the grass to leaping red demons. Their destructive dance twisted and rippled across the fabric of the earth. Before we knew it, all that had been green and fragrant had been replaced by cold pavement and polluted air.
"Who will come after the Earth, Momma?"
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