(To read the story from the beginning, visit Earthbound’s index page here, or click here for part 1, I Dream of Things Far Away…)
I was not given long to ponder the merit of changes one could only feel and sense rather than know and understand, or to question the stillness that had come in the night.
Dawn broke with a ferocity I had never before experienced, and the forest came to life with alarming speed. The world was waking, and yet I felt like I was dreaming, lost in between worlds. All around me was brought into sharp focus but at the same time my perception was muted. Acceptance of what was offered no insight into what was unfolding.
As I looked up into, through and beyond the tree canopy above, the strange pattern of brightness that filtered through leaf and branch reminded me of the night sky…may be it was the combination of the dark and light together, which called to mind the endless blackness and the tiny beacons of starlight.
It was the perfect balance between earth and sky, an harmonious joining that set my mind to contemplation, for what I saw was more than an expression of the earth’s fecundity and the strength of the sun. It was a map. A star map, made of sunlight and green foliage.
Already exhausted and overwhelmed by all that was and yet wasn’t, I struggled to grasp this latest revelation: there were clues in the earth that would show me the way to the stars.
Sammi Cox 