[austintorn@aol.com]

(This should resonate with everyone)

The Spirit of the Earth

They walked along the shore of the river. A breeze wandered by and played around with them, for it actually was a spirit, the Spirit of the Earth, about to reveal itself. The breeze swirled all around and caressed them, and a mist came off of the water to envelop them in its fog, wetting them as it touched them all over with a fine droplet spray. The sun’s warmth vibrated on their skin and they laid on the ground, snuggling onto the sand as the earth held them dear in its embrace. Soon the breeze, mist, heat, and earth coalesced into a spirit which spoke to them:

“I am the Spirit of the Earth,” it said. “I will tell you the story of the world.

“Near the beginning, long before space was knowable, Darkness stole most of Forever, and almost nothing was. All might have very well stayed this way, but, inborn in the Universe-to-be was the spirit of potential. Soon there was a silent ripple and a quiet rumble as Plus and Minus came forth from a near nothing and then separated, each being the opposite aspect of that which was one and the same. Therefore, everything still added up to pretty much a total zero, and would become as such again if Plus and Minus were ever to recombine. Plus went one way and Minus went another, and therefore the positive Universe was born; but, again, from nothing but potential it came and to nothing but potential it will someday have to amount.

“So, all became stable, and, at last, after many small eternities, a faint spirit of hope arrived from beyond the dim shadow of a dream: Life’s spirit had come forth from the energy and echoed into the vastness of the Void. I am that spirit of life—I now wear the clothes of past into future and matter and space.

“Many things then began to happen. As Nature’s undying flame, I lit up the Darkness with my Fire, sparking all that which must come into existence to embody my spirit. So it was that all around me was created the World.

“In the World I remained entombed, but alive—forever giving life from within, for I warm this Earth as its ever vibrant and beating heart. I pumped heat into the cold oceans as my lava coursed wildly through the sub-earthly veins to reach the icy formless wastelands above. Then I spewed my hot breath to form the sea mountains into islands, which grew so high that moisture froze atop their crests, which then eventually melted and became my spirit sister, Water.

“Down the mountainside, as water droplets, she dreapt and flowed ever downward to join with others who would lave the barren soil with love and nourishment. Some soil she carried away to new places, meanwhile widening herself into creeks and streams and then into streams whose banks she kept forever moist. Soon her brother, the Air, came to drink of her vapors, and carried the spirit afar. And wherever the air was wafted, flowers bloomed.

“Yes, it was here in my mountain mass and stream where life first bred; here it was where my wind moved the air on which birds flew and carried the song of my spirit through the trees which then whispered it along to man’s ear and thence to his heart and mind wherein he sang it as a song to the beauty of Life and Love.

“And that Song was as sure and sweet as the breath of my fresh spirit which blew life into man, who, with all of my creations, came to drink of my stream. Then and there it was that Man came to understand Nature’s tone as it resonated and played rhythm to life through the din of survival and war, through the noise of consciousness, through the sickness and the strife; through goodness, delight, and everlasting joy.

“But throughout it all I remained—and still and forevermore I cool the glade while my water flows lovingly astride the flower petals wherefore I evaporate and join with the air to be carried afar, even to deserts, where on the morning sand as dew I give drink to the thirsty spider. Elsewhere I wet the shores of Earth and cool the land with my breeze. There it was that you two as a poet and an artist found me lonely and ignored, and so captured my spirit into these romanticized words so that all of your readers could taste of my soul and pillow life’s weariness in one of my many sweet spots.

“Then so it is that my Love triumphs over all as I envelop you in this dream of a world that is ours. I will eventually collect your heart back to mine, for I am your beginning and your end. Now you know just how potent is the spirit of my love! So much so, that just one sigh of my love buried in you echoes loudly in your heart; that it can never, after all else dies, ever pass away.”