I know some people hate plotless ramblings. This DISCLAIMER is for them.
The lights and sounds of the city seemed to fade away behind me as I stepped onto the dampened sand. The waters didn’t speak up either; they remained silent, though the waves would crest and crash nevertheless. The boats in the distance retained their distance, inviting neither imagination nor confrontation; as far as my eye reached, all there was water. I stood there, back to civilization, facing an empty eternity.
The wind blew. The chilly early-autumn drafts brought me out of my meditative reverie and I walked along the shore, gazing at both my feet and the moonlight that speckled the lake water. A little splash of water brushed against my feet, leaving empty, powerless wetness as sign of its passing. Even without turning my head I could see the shoreline, empty, as if I had never walked there, as if I had never been, as if nothing had ever been. Somewhere in the distance behind me people laughed, ate, chatted, walked- life went on without me.
Remnants of the glorious sand castles of earlier today or any other time in the past dotted the shore as well. Time, wind, and water had worn them down and the only signs of their existence were the mounds left. Imprints of the children- their laughter, their energy, were gone. The wind blew a bit more harshly and I moved on once again.
I continued. My footsteps would disappear moments after I had made them and all that was behind me- both city and shoreline- existed as if I had never even been there. Mounds of sand would pop up now and there, mere remnants of the glorious civilizations they had once been in the eyes of the children. They had been created, cherished, abandoned, and eventually forgotten. They waited to fade.
My wearied feet and soul beckoned me to sit down. “Your jeans will get wet; you might catch a cold; it’s late and dangerous...,” the voice of logic pestered me like the wind, urging me to move on. I let logic fly with the wind and went further than my original intention- I lied down. My jeans and t-shirt got wet, I felt an irritating itch at the back of my throat, occasionally sand or water would crash into me, but I was unaware of all but this: the number of stars in the sky overwhelmed me.
I mentally proclaimed my significance to all the stars who seemed to shine for my eyes only. After all, I was alone. Civilization abandoned, alone on the beach, there was nobody else. Still, not a single star responded. They went on, existing as they always had and would for millennia to come.
Miffed, I sat up and engraved my name in the wet sand and then stood up. The wind beckoned to me once again, urging me to move on. This time, I heeded its call and moved on after dusting my clothes clear of any clinging bits of sand. I walked to the cold cement stairs towards civilization where life had continued without me and would continue when I entered without once turning its head to greet me.
I didn’t look behind me when I met the gaudy city lights. I knew that my footsteps and name were now long gone, washed away by the waters who had already forgotten me as well. I knew the stars shone for nobody on the beach as they had shone for nobody when I had looked to them as my peers. I knew this, but the wind moved me back to the lights of civilization that I had once abandoned. As I walked up the cement stairs, out of silence and into the urban symphony in which I had no part, nothing special happened except perhaps that the sandcastle ruins dwindled even more. I walked, urged on by the wind, unable to stop; and I faded.
The lights and sounds of the city seemed to fade away behind me as I stepped onto the dampened sand. The waters didn’t speak up either; they remained silent, though the waves would crest and crash nevertheless. The boats in the distance retained their distance, inviting neither imagination nor confrontation; as far as my eye reached, all there was water. I stood there, back to civilization, facing an empty eternity.
The wind blew. The chilly early-autumn drafts brought me out of my meditative reverie and I walked along the shore, gazing at both my feet and the moonlight that speckled the lake water. A little splash of water brushed against my feet, leaving empty, powerless wetness as sign of its passing. Even without turning my head I could see the shoreline, empty, as if I had never walked there, as if I had never been, as if nothing had ever been. Somewhere in the distance behind me people laughed, ate, chatted, walked- life went on without me.
Remnants of the glorious sand castles of earlier today or any other time in the past dotted the shore as well. Time, wind, and water had worn them down and the only signs of their existence were the mounds left. Imprints of the children- their laughter, their energy, were gone. The wind blew a bit more harshly and I moved on once again.
I continued. My footsteps would disappear moments after I had made them and all that was behind me- both city and shoreline- existed as if I had never even been there. Mounds of sand would pop up now and there, mere remnants of the glorious civilizations they had once been in the eyes of the children. They had been created, cherished, abandoned, and eventually forgotten. They waited to fade.
My wearied feet and soul beckoned me to sit down. “Your jeans will get wet; you might catch a cold; it’s late and dangerous...,” the voice of logic pestered me like the wind, urging me to move on. I let logic fly with the wind and went further than my original intention- I lied down. My jeans and t-shirt got wet, I felt an irritating itch at the back of my throat, occasionally sand or water would crash into me, but I was unaware of all but this: the number of stars in the sky overwhelmed me.
I mentally proclaimed my significance to all the stars who seemed to shine for my eyes only. After all, I was alone. Civilization abandoned, alone on the beach, there was nobody else. Still, not a single star responded. They went on, existing as they always had and would for millennia to come.
Miffed, I sat up and engraved my name in the wet sand and then stood up. The wind beckoned to me once again, urging me to move on. This time, I heeded its call and moved on after dusting my clothes clear of any clinging bits of sand. I walked to the cold cement stairs towards civilization where life had continued without me and would continue when I entered without once turning its head to greet me.
I didn’t look behind me when I met the gaudy city lights. I knew that my footsteps and name were now long gone, washed away by the waters who had already forgotten me as well. I knew the stars shone for nobody on the beach as they had shone for nobody when I had looked to them as my peers. I knew this, but the wind moved me back to the lights of civilization that I had once abandoned. As I walked up the cement stairs, out of silence and into the urban symphony in which I had no part, nothing special happened except perhaps that the sandcastle ruins dwindled even more. I walked, urged on by the wind, unable to stop; and I faded.