I hear the bells toll away in a church nearby. I look at my watch and just while I am looking, I realize the futility of it. “Time here takes a backseat”, I say to myself.
I smile…and I walk on.
I hear my footsteps on the wet road. The air is cool and fragrant- it is intoxicating. The trees on either side of the road seem to agree with me, for their branches were swaying in affirmation to my thoughts. I pass by houses- radiant, bright, and vibrant with colours of red, purple, yellow, blue. It looks as if the rainbow has come down on the earth in the form of these houses. They are all reminiscent and so very alive with the era that made them. They seem eager to tell me stories of that era. I strain my eyes and ears. Neither do my eyes see anything, nor do my ears hear anything. Strangely enough, my heart experiences it. It is overwhelming. “How I wish I lived here...” I say to myself.
I smile…and I walk on.
I do not realize on which turn the road beneath my feet gave away to the vast expanse of white sand. I do not realize when the landscape around me gradually opened up to the ocean. I do not realize when the sun, hidden behind the clouds, slowly descended into the water.
Nevertheless, I do realize the presence of the One who created it all- this beauty, this nature, this serenity. That timeless moment, that enthralling beauty, that divine realization is forever to stay in my memory.
I go down on my knees and kiss the air as if I were kissing the hand of the One who created it. I whisper “Thank You” to the winds while looking up at the sky.
I smile…and I walk on.
The night falls. It begins to rain lightly. I soak in the rain- not literally, but figuratively. I soak in the sound of the rain- the beautiful music it creates when it falls on the roof above, the tress around and the ground below. I soak in its sweet fragrance- the fragrance the earth emanates as if it were expressing gratitude to the sky. I soak in its sights- and the beauty it creates around me. “Oh yes!” I say to myself. My friend has rightfully said-Heaven is Green.
I smile…and I cannot walk away from this.
Far, far away in the distance, I see a lighthouse. I have always seen it as a symbol of hope and faith with its light spreading across miles- on both land and sea. For travelers and seekers lost in search of their destinies and quests, this “
It strikes me then. I cannot stay here forever. I must go back to move on- move on to bigger and better things in life. The lighthouse showed me the path to my “Stairway to Heaven” in a better light- the way I never saw before. “I will come back again”, I say to myself.
I smile…and I walk on…
