Tuesday, June 04, 2002

Kind of a strange inspiration from TS Eliot...

In my beginning is my end. I start from my daze as the subway car’s sliding gate closes, denying access into its dark recesses. The smudged visage I see through the window is not quite that of my own, yet it is not wholly unfamiliar. He gazes back through dusty spectacles, a slight upturn pulling one side of his mouth. My enigma takes flight, blurring away in this steel bird of progress.
I entered this dark universe in search of something. The harsh pavement and blistering fire of the sun drove me under. But now I am unsure as to what it was I was searching for. I am swept from the platform as the teeming masses jumble together in a frenzied dance of motion. But there is no excitement in their step, only resignation. They are withered stumps of time, uprooted and thrown into this melting pot of life, dark and brooding. Do I dare disturb the universe? Do I posses what it takes to alter these currents? For years I had hoped. But the hope slowly faded and was overcome by a more powerful force. The heat was too much, and in short, I was afraid.
I turned, now, from the scene. Human kind cannot bear very much reality. I must focus on finding my destination, my goal. I fly down stale corridors and weave through mazes of escalators and passageways. I have traveled each step day after day, in search of answers, yet finding only the same dead ends.
Emerging from a platform, I spot the familiar face once more. Moved by a force I cannot explain, I follow in pursuit. He turns and I am met by the same dusty gaze and crooked smile. The world is a buzz around me, but I can neither hear nor feel their presence. He bends towards my ear, the white whiskers of his mustache whispering against my smooth cheek. “You have had the experience but missed the meaning” he murmurs. “For us, there is only the trying. The rest is not our business.” And with that, he is gone. No explanation was given; none was needed. The crowds dissolve from sight, fading like ghosts. Oh why didn't I understand sooner? It was there all along. I scurried up the long flight of stairs and into the brilliant sunlight once more. The heat was not unbearable; it was like creamy rose petals on the skin. And the fire and the rose are one. I soaked it all in with delight. I now understood that the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. It was not enough to experience, I needed to live. I did not need to succeed, only try. This resolved, I left the gloomy universe of the Underground and went in search of my beginning. For, what we call the beginning is often the end and to make an end is to make a beginning.

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