tenasuri

THE DESERT

After a long  journey out in the desert, after many days of wandering, the traveler had reached a point where he had lost all sense of time and space. His bare feet were burnt, and so his skin- but it hurt no more. In his Journey, he had learnt to love pain, and pain was now his friend. His beard had grown longer, and so his wisdom, his perception of the uni-verse. But the traveler had lost his smile many years ago…

Somewhere in his Journey, an immense wall appeared to him... like a traced line between the mountains and the sky, which from the distance he firstly misjudged as the horizon. Finally, he had a reference point, a goal, and he sincerely thanked whom we call God for that. 

Many days later, the traveler finally stood beside the wall. In fact, an insurmountable wall it was. He sat at the top of the nearest dune, for hours, contemplating this marvelous work, and wondering what kind of power could have built this eternal serpent of stone, which- he assumed- divided the whole world in two, like a ring around the Earth. 

Immersed, absorted in this reasoning, he fell asleep.

THE WALL

The windy nocturne kiss of the desert awoke the traveler suddenly. He realized, by the amount of sand covering him, by the length of his nails and beard, that he had been certainly sleeping for quite a long time- days, months…maybe years! 

The wall was still there, immutable, respectful. And he would need tons of meditation to being able to move again. 

The traveler witnessed many moons before he could stand on his feet again. Finally, one day he started walking alongside the wall. He felt stronger now, and much wiser. ‘Whenever there is a wall, there´s got to be a door, an access: A wall is made either to protect or to prevent people from going away. But It might happen that the menace disappears or your side of the wall gets crowded. So there´s got to be a door!!...- besides, what´s the point of having neighbors if you cant spy on them? Certainly, curiosity has always killed the cat’.

He walked many miles, and he was alone, so he started to talk to the wall, to love the wall- it was not a wall anymore. It was his companion, who was always there for him. The wall changed its colour and its shape everyday, as the days got older. Sometimes he surprised it smiling at him- and what a friendly smile it was!, full of hope. ‘The wall has a big heart- pity it is a heart of stone!.’

He persisted for many days, more than the mind can accurately count or the hand is able to write. And finally, he found the door. It seemed to him, oddly, that he might have missed it and that maybe it was always been there, yet he wasn´t able to see it until today- it was likely that he had already walked the wall many times, circling around the globe, all desert(ed) on this side!

He kneeled down and prayed up to the Unseen for some moments he judged eternal. Then he approached the door and tried to open it- all in vain.

He carefully examined the door. ‘Robust and no visible hinges from this side’- no way to force it. 

There were some words carved in the door: ‘VITA NUOVA’.

At this time he was exhausted, and much older, so he rested and fell asleep. Once again.

THE VOICE

He heard a distant voice. First he thought he was in the middle of his dream. But strangely he couldn´t control that voice- as, through his Journey, 

he had mastered the art of controlling dreams. The voice was louder, approaching him- IT WAS REAL!

He woke up and shouted back at this voice. He was crying…and the tears drowned his voice. So much time had passed... so much he couldn`t remember the last person he spoke to.

It was a young, female voice. Immediately both understood that their languages were different. But they kept on talking, as they both were very excited about it. ‘It is obvious that there is none else but her at the other side’- he concluded.

After the initial burst of irrational happiness, both remained in silence. Both leaning against each side of the wall, hearing the other one breathing.

Many hours followed, and one day followed another, until they formed a number even longer than the wall. At this point they have managed to know their names, the basic words (wall, rain, sun, hair, feet, day, night…) which were twice spoken, each one in their own languages. 

In some odd way, Wilhelmina and Morgan felt bound to each other, their destinies tied.

THE END OF THE JOURNEY

It was clear to him that they both wanted to cross the wall- whether to continue their Journey or to end it- as they were both still there.

One day he scratched the carved words on the door with his nails and, as she heard it, she too started doing it on the other side- at the same height. They both soon knew that the door had these words carved on both sides… in different languages!

There was no keyhole on his side of the wall. He was desperate. 

‘We can only hear ourselves, our words echoed among the stones of this wall’.

‘We can imagine each other, but we cant see each other’. 

‘We can feel each other, but not touch’.

‘We can barely express ourselves in words. But the words are coming from the heart. And the heart never lies when it is full of love’.

‘It is joy sometimes, and sometimes grief; it is innocence which can transform into wisdom; it is your closest friend and yet your most fierceful enemy, too. It is a silent voice, that speaks tenderly while you are sleeping, a secret intuition and the King that rules your will’- Morgan´s words were full of emotion. 

‘I don`t  understand!!’-  moaned she. Morgan would have to explain it with simpler words…she didn´t speak his language that well.

‘Remember that day when you were away and I was mad at you because you left without notice? That is love’.

‘So you love me then?- she asked

‘Yes, with all my heart'- whispered Morgan.

‘Now I understand’. 

Morgan, the traveler, heard a metallic noise from the other side. He could not believe this sound, so familiar, easily recognizable…there was no doubt, it was the turn of a key!… The door was moving!!!!!

Finally opened, Wilhelmina appeared under the arch.

Joyous, he asked her, as he could not understand.

She replied wisely, in a very refined way, with words that he had never used in a long time, words full of wisdom, the kind of wisdom that you see in books, yet is not acquired from books. 

It was then he realized that, at the beginning of his Journey, he had no idea of what he was looking for.  At this point, he could not even remember why he started it. Maybe he was bored of all things he knew. But now his Journey, this Journey, had ended, and a new wor(l)d, LOVE, was revealed to him, greater and brighter than any man, god, dream or vision.

‘What a beautiful smile you got!’- Wilhelmina whispered. And, for the first time, he felt that he was less a traveler, and more Morgan.

And he kept on smiling.