A breeze punctures the veil between light and dark.
And carries with it a sound, ancient and pure.
A melody.
Faint, sweet, violent.
The voyager looks at his sails.
They stir and vibrate as if caught between dimensions.
He’s captained this ship for so long. Alone.
He’s lost count of the full moons he’s witnessed.
His mind must be playing tricks on him.
But still he journeys on,
Never knowing what the next horizon will yield.
Unfolding with so much promise…
Blooming with so much hope…
Barren each time.
Is it a pull?
Is it a push?
His traitorous heart could never tell the difference.
Is it real?
Is it a dream?
His mossy eyes have long since found the two indistinguishable.
There it is again!
That incessant sound!
That infernal refrain.
That elusive splinter in his mind that refuses to dislodge.
That call from the beyond that set his perfunctory trajectory ablaze,
Streaking a brilliant arch across the sky…
Terminal velocity a distant memory.
Will the gods release him from this voyage,
Or is he doomed to chase this rainbow until its last glimmer fades from the universe?
The smell of perfume fills the air.
Musk and dusk.
A glint of mint.
Jasmin and dragon’s blood.
They light up his memories of the future…
And ignite his grasp on the past.
He’s close.
Surely closer than he’s ever been!
But to what?
All he’s ever known is this hunt.
All he’s ever wanted to know was whether he’s the prey.
Answers will come…
Answers will come…
Answers will come…
His mantra persists.
A burst of light!
A cacophony of sounds.
A brilliant bouquet of inconceivable scents.
A crackle in the air.
A tear in his sail.
And through the haze… a glimpse into something new.
Eyes stare back at him.
The colour of the sky that has been his constant companion for so long.
Blue and black and grey.
Blissful and stormy.
Like the ocean.
Threatening and wild and untamed and innocent.
His siren.
His muse.
His heaven.
His hell.
His path.
His compass.
Arms unfold.
A smile unfurls.
He is home.
Home at last.
And as the ocean swallows him.
As the depths embrace him one last time.
He looks into those eyes.
He holds his restitution tight.
And breathes a single, final, eternal breath.
I am the sky.
I am the ocean.
I am the shore.
I am the vessel.
But you are.
And forever will be…
Safe harbour.
Photo by Matheo JBT on Unsplash