Something That Lies Beyond

Then it begins. It is as though your whole life has lacked some sort of defining shape, as though you have stumbled through this forest from one clearing to the next always in search of something that eludes; something that lies beyond and always out of reach.

Just up above through the next stand of trees there has been something; something you’ve sensed rather than felt: a presence a darker shadow amongst all the other shadows; something that seems to be waiting for you, but yet unwilling for you to catch up with. It always seems to be standing so close, but always just out of reach.

Sometimes you have the feeling that it expects something of you, that if only you took the right path you would find it there in a clearing waiting for you, taking the shape of that lover you have always longed for; a Lover who will take you by the hand and lead you to that spot beneath an old oak tree where the grass is soft and the sun is warm. There you will lie down together and then you will know that your long search through these thick, dark dense woods is over.

Now, though, you sense movement off just beyond where you can see clearly, and you see the shape of the one you’re searching for, hidden in the shadows. So, taking one more deep breath, you plunge on once again, deeper into these dark woods.