It was a nice day. The wind on my skin, the rustling of the leaves, the sun sheltered by the sky above… if only all days were like this, then well… actually no, that's dumb. If everyday was like this, then a nice day would become just a normal day. The fact that we have hot days and cold days gives us our nice days. Everythings relative.. right right, I nodded, hands fidgeting, idly scanning the world around me
The silent path continued for as far as I could see. Isolated, I was probably the only person here, given its semi-hidden location. It was.. nice. A nice feeling. A feeling simple in meaning, but also complex. Common, but also rare. Truly such feelings should be treasured, as perhaps all should be. For too often we forget the wonders of feeling, we become used to its seldom touch, and in turn, are blinded to it's true glory…
I shook my head, breaking myself out of my reverie. What the fuck was I talking about? Bah, Places like these always made me philosophical, or perhaps it was the lack of people. Maybe a combination of both, something to think about, I guess. Though really we would never find an answer. Part of the drawbacks of being human, things change, we change. And even little changes can change an output, or maybe they won't do anything at all.... An ever changing answer provides a never ending thought. What a nice saying, try to remember that one..
Amusement flickered through me, and I grinned, teeth bared. We pause for one second to enjoy something, and we forget all about it! Truly we were our own worst enemy. I mean, we got this perfect forest around us, and what are we thinkin about? Feelings! Only degenerates care about feelings. Real men only care about two things, nothing and nothing, because real men don't exist, and neither do we.
And then we didnt exist anymore, just like that. "Poof".... Just joking, sadly we kept existing, who knew you couldn't think yourself out of existence… existance you dirty dog, stop being so intelligent! What do you mean I cant instantly kill myself just by thinking I want to die? Absolute bullshit, I tell you. Back in my day, you were free to commit 4-d seppuku whenever you wanted, AND the health care was better too.. ah what have the times come to, I tell you, it's all the damn millennials fault...
Inner strawman criteria met for this week, what else, what else… I swiveled on the trail, seeking for any source of stimulus to plug up my leaking brain.. Trees. I wanna FUCK a tree. Wait, no, I want to have a nice, loving relationship with a tree, in which we have many tree dates, a tree wedding, and horrible tree-flesh hybrid tree-children. Ah yes, truly all a man can hope to wish for…. Wait, why were we talking about tree fucking again?
Oh, because we wanted to fuck trees. Actually it's because we thought the idea was funny, I mean, fucking trees! If you dont get it, then get out, clearly there is no hope for you. I mean, I guess you could actually "fuck" a tree, but I imagine it would be alot of work, and uh, splinters. Do I need to say more? No, I really don't, ergh god, what an obtuse thought
Of course it is. Now, to fuck a tree! I jest I jest…. or do I?.
I turned to my next victim- I mean the tree I was leaning on. It spread high above me, branches strutting about proudly, with thin clothes of soft green. Ridges spread over its surface, every crevasse a pattern, a painting of intense detail, unique in every way. Bumps and slumps, each curve told a story of the never ending struggle. To be, to grow, to perhaps become something more.
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It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen.
Slowly, I laid my hands on the arboraceous surface, a stupid grin on my face. Ah god, this entire thing was stupid but… I closed my eyes, darkness becoming my world, the tree my lifeline, holding me from confusion, and potential mortal harm (aka falling on my GLORIOUS ass). Yet, within that darkness, lied something more, something greater.
Touch, pressure. Always forgotten, always to the wayside. Crushed by the iron reign of sight, they eke out a pitiful life, unable to aspire to their king's tower. But yet, when released from their cage, they grow, they become something more than what they once were. Something better. And while the crush of iron comes back, some growth will always remain, building and building and building.
For some atleast.
In that darkness, I let my touch free, and I FELT.
Felt, a combination of pressure and nerves, axioms receiving chemical signals, electricity splicing to the brain. Did you know that there are only around four words to describe a tree? Even less to describe touching one. Limitations of language, we have more words for sight, but less for touch. A natural result of our dependence on sight, but still noticeable.
When we hit those specific experiences, the ones that we can't find a word for but we know for it to be true, we must turn to other pastures. Symbology, similes, allegoration, and other such literary devices. They fill these gaps in language, but not even they can entirely cover the gap.
So I felt. I cannot describe to you how I felt. I lack the words, you lack the words as well. Nothing I could say could make you understand how it felt. I could cover it up in fancy words, compare it to a thousand things. But in the end, that would be a lie, a falsehood. I felt up that tree, and that, is that.
In that darkness, I calmed.
We have always thought too much. Racing thoughts, rapid thoughts, they are a part of us, and always have been. Not inherently a bad thing, infact sometimes we wish people would think more, but it blinds. All around me, there had been beauty, but we hadnt noticed. Too drawn in our thoughts, and our jestings to care…
But not anymore.
And so I broke the darkness and- a thousand lasers fucking seared into my eyeballs! Jesus christ... I squinted, moisture running down my eyes. Blinded in more ways than one, perhaps abit too much beauty…
Sun, you asshole, you completely ruined the moment! It was all gonna be dramatic, like "a man opens his eyes, a new person after deep-inflection", and all that piazaz... ah god it would've been so fun!... Oh well, you can't always have perfect stages after all...
"Thanks for being a good actor", I said to the tree, slightly slapping it. I recoiled, and put my hand to my face, as if hurt. "no babe, you ain't just prop to me I promise, I promise!". I dropped to my knees, my hands raised to the sky's above "NOOO don't leave me, I-O love you". And then…. I died, falling onto the ground, from a broken tree heart.
For real this time, I'm dead. What, you don't believe me? Well frankly, that is quite rude, I'm probably the most trustworthy person I know! I died, my heart stopped, exploded into a thousand fleshy pieces. I'm dead I promise….
Just kidding! But you already knew that, didnt you