Moments of Revelation

(Written aboard the MV explorer in February. Shared now because it gains new relevance for me as the new year approaches)

Surely, years have passed by now. I must be 24, 25, 26… or older still. Perhaps my hair is slowly turning into a river of silver; my face creased with lines of emotion and wisdom. Certainly I have been adrift for decades, memories of far off places floating wearily through my subconscious.

Bright colored lanterns, bold smelling spices, and flowing symphonies of sound are all flitting around before my conciousness simultaneously. My senses must be failing me, indeed; sights twist into smells as touch turns into taste. The laughter of children morphs into splayed sunlight trickling down from the heavens onto mountainous peaks; I can feel it spilling warmly down my arms, dripping from my fingertips. It hits the ground like rainwater, reminiscent of a bubbling stream. Moving like energy across my skin, it creeps into my thoughts. Light flows into darkness; stars bursting forth brilliantly as the sun. Sands fly through the air like snowflakes; sands of time, colder than ice.

Senility must be overtaking my aging mind; how can these sensations exist? Perhaps I am drifting through a dream, but I have yet to decide whether it is pleasant or frightening. An illusion that’s simply fascinating, like a secret long withheld from the hearer. It must be, for how can it be real? How can a world of paradox hold any shape at all?

Mind flows into mind as heart flows into heart. We are not so different: a band of terrestrial beings struggling for life and vitality; for understanding. We form a body that feels and breaths. Each entity is no stronger than any other. We are beautifully and wonderfully crafted creatures.

Beauty gives way to decay. Youth flees from age. Intelligence stands dumbfounded in the face of eternity. My thoughts race towards some unforeseen revelation. Months melt into years as the world spins beneath my feet. Perhaps I am not so old; perhaps the child within me has finally come of age. Weariness is setting in as years of youth fade into the distance.

Life can never be the same as the seconds inch slowly by. Time crawls as minutes fracture into moments. Moments freeze. Truth reveals itself. Then time liquefies once more.

Years have not passed; just moments of revelation.