Place of Birth
Life initiated once in a chamber of a house of great antiquity, a house now forgotten and neglected and a chamber now deserted and hollow.
A candled chandelier as the sole instrument of illumination contemplates occasional intruders from an elevated level. Merely a mahogany chair endowed with a splendid red cushion and with a quaint and for the man’s eye ferocious carving within the chair back, accompanies him, and attempts along with his companion to counter the penetrating void which dilates itself recklessly within the room.
Anon a shadow will approach and will enkindle the candles scarring both obscurity and anxiety away which seemed to be the only inhabitants of this sparsely furnished room/chamber.
But until then time still remains.
And as we wait impatiently for this moment to arrive, we retrace our steps on a path once conducting us to this very room - to this very house.
At an early hour the sun does not show her grace for she remains hidden beneath the horizon. But soon she will alternate position with the moon that is momentarily dimly enlightening the vast covered land and thus the very scene. Layers of fog veil identities obviously belonging to trees, bushes, houses, lakes, barns, withered flowers, grass-to this house-….
As you make your way on a course sand path leading to where a scarcely audible, yet to you not unknown, voice tells you to go, a pierce coldness thrusts at your body. And with every step closer you get the frosty sentiment grows stronger, until suddenly, but with anticipation numbness overwhelms you. As if your brain had lost control over your limbs you are not able to move, as if the air had been taken from your lungs you are not able to speak, you only stare, stare at the house, at the house disclosed by the now vanishing fog, revealing both splendor and oddity.
Here it is again, this sound; no it is a voice. But what is it telling you? You try to close your eyes, they respond. Darkness. Despite You do not understand-“voice speak louder, please- I want to hear, I want to know”, you murmur although your inner self hollers.
To regain comfort you reopen your eyes, but what you perceive bears no resemblance to what you perceived previously. A narrow, high walled corridor stretches before you which is locally illuminated by an elongated torch at the corridor’s very beginning. With a restless heart you seize it and sense instantaneously the warmth it bears. You must be within the house, but how did you get there? I n vain you listen intensely to the silence, but no voice is audible which may serve as a guidance.
Due to the deep darkness it is difficult to catch sight of anything within the corridor. You progress prudently until finally an opened entrance door appears which welcomes you to a chamber filled with obscurity. In spite of inhibitions deriving from your reason you enter and as you dimly perceive a grand chandelier amidst the room you instinctually enkindle its candles with your torch.
Ultimately the moment has arrived. Lightening one candle after the other a host of bright rays of light fill the room creating a vivid atmosphere, yet simultaneously revealing a cruel void.
A chair in the midst of nothing .An inexplicable, inner desire urges you toward the chair and thus towards the center of the room. You keep looking around, glancing from one wall to the other, searching for something you are not aware of.
This chamber incorporates an entity obviously familiar to you. Puzzled you fall onto the chair and in this very moment, as if the contact of the red velvet cushion with your skin evoked a reaction you distinctly acknowledge the voice’s message: “Home”.
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