Nature’s Cure

Sunflowers pic by Mark Ulyseas

In Gethsemane: Transcripts of a Journey www.amazon.co.in

Here with a Loaf of Bread beneath the Bough,
A Flask of Wine, a Book of Verse—and Thou
Beside me singing in the Wilderness—
And Wilderness is Paradise enow.
– The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam

Just returned from the wilderness, arriving amidst the raucous sound of crows feeding on a carcass…the remnants of a live cow thrown into the sea to appease the rain gods…drowned and washed ashore.

The newspapers have piled up at the door. No one has stolen them this time. I open the door. The house smells musty. I put on the air conditioner and open all doors and windows.

Sita arrives to clean the house.

I walk out and lie on the nearby church wall waiting for her to complete her chores.

The sky is blue…fresh…and sun has still an hour to retire for the night. Wild flowers are in bloom everywhere and butterflies in abundance…yellow…hundreds of them fluttering from one flower  to another. Damp earth smells sweet and comforting…and I dose off,

The church bells ring. The crows rise in a wave from the carcass. People begin arriving for mass. I get up and walk back home.

Sita has finished her work.

The trip has tested my belief in humanity and God. Too much violence. Too much hatred.

I bathe, pour myself a drink and sit down on the verandah and light a cigar.

Twilight retreats into the blanket of darkness while the bushes are lit up by fireflies with the crickets serenading the night.

A light wind blows. It is cool.

Rainy walks in and gently licks my hand and lies down next to me and puts his head on my feet.

I rest my head back and dose off,

Later that night Rainy wakes me and we go into the house. I put some food in his bowl and watch him eat. And after he has finished he comes to me and burps…this is his way of saying thank you. Then he goes under my bed and soon he is snoring.

The house falls silent. Even the crickets appear to respect my space. They too fall silent.

I lie down and watch the fireflies through the window.

The simple things of life are all that I need; my home, my doggie and the critters that have set up home outside the house among the vegetation. The sanctity of nature is evident all round me and it is my refuge from the murderous world of humans.

I dose off and dream of dolphins and walking barefoot on a rain swept beach.

In nature life is simple, clean and wholesome.

Pity about the humans.

© Mark Ulyseas, August 25, 2013

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.