I had asked him to tell me what he knew to be a singular truth of life…
My eyes were closed as I lay with my back against the trunk of the tree. The tree, standing alone at the top of the small hill was sparsely decorated with leaves that rustled in the breeze. Affording a slight shade that cut the heat of the day just enough to allow it to be bearable. The roughness of the bark digging into my light shirt as I settled my body and allowed my mind to wander, waiting for his reply. The sharpness of the bark digging into my ribs slightly as I inhaled, the solid strength of the tree comforting against me.
I exhaled, resigning myself to accept whatever truth he would offer to me; not caring precisely what the truth would be but simply that I craved and needed to know something. To know, as a certainty, something…anything…to believe in my heart in a singular truth. The sage’s presence as he sat on the other side of the tree was palpable as I waited.
The sun on my face was hot and it felt good. The kind of good that makes you smile with your heart…your lips just conveying what is bursting inside. My body was damp with a sweat earned by the hike to this place and the wind that blew quietly caressed me and caused a shiver to run through me, the heat of the day gone for a second. I relaxed myself deeper into the ground where I sat and the warmth of the grass drew me to a place of physical contentment that I craved. I exhaled.
Feeling heaviness in my body and calmness in my mind, I was present. I felt capable, strong and in control – for the first time in a long time. I barely noticed as the tears fell silently, my breathing slow as I welcomed the strength back to my spirit; missing for so long and found in the most simple of places now – within in myself.
I blinked as my eyes opened slowly….the brightness of the sun, high in the sky, burning my eyes and making me drop my head down to filter the sharpness of the light.
Taking a deep breath, I could smell the scent of the grass as the warm air filled my lungs. Releasing my breath, my shoulders set firm and my back rose straighter instead of slumping as it had been for far too long.
I leaned forward as I disengaged myself from the tree trunk, my mind focused on the reality that I had not heard the sage and no longer could I sense his presence. I turned and looked…the other side of the hilltop was empty; he wasn’t there. The small boulder just on the other side of the tree that I had noticed earlier had something on top of it that I could barely make out. I arose and walked to it.
A white piece of parchment fluttered in the breeze, held in place with a small stone. Removing the stone, picking up the paper and reading my singular truth that the sage had left for me.
“You are, as we all are, alone in our journey of this life”.
whisky sweet 