But there’s a Tree, of many, one,
A single Field which I have looked upon,
Both of them speak of something that is gone
Intimations of Immortality…William Wordsworth
THE TWO ANIMALS LAY at the base of the tree, their fur bathed in light. For several moments, the man and woman stood silently pondering them before the man lifted one of the creatures’ heads and stared quizzically into its vacant eyes. Its unblinking stare told him the shadows pressing in about them had taken something precious from the earth, something he found no words to describe.
Lava-like, the shadows oozed closer and closer toward the tree, compressing the light, until finally, as a diamond formed in the earth’s dark depths, both tree and light blazed as a single beacon against the backdrop of invading gloom.
Suddenly the man’s and woman’s hands shot up to shield their eyes from a final radiant flash of protest as the tree and light were swallowed by the shadows. Now the man could see that nothing remained where the tree had stood except the pelts of the two animals and a small oblong stone nestled in the fur of one. Stooping, he picked it up and turned it slowly in his hands, letting his fingers trace the raised design on its surface. In its depths, he saw the light, which only moments before seemed extinguished by the shadows, still blazed brightly.
Bending again, he retrieved the skins. Draping one over the shoulders of the woman and the other around his own, he pointed toward the horizon and began walking. In the distance, dark clouds gathered, and a cold wind announced an approaching storm.
Clutching the stone tightly, he felt the warmth of its inner fire and with it a comforting conviction: The storm will pass. Assured by the thought, he smiled at the woman for the first time since they had entered the shadows. The storm drew closer, the wind colder, yet the stone’s warmth remained constant. More, its heat was spreading—first up his arm, then, in what seemed only a moment, enfolded his whole body in the cocoon of its embrace. Reaching, he took the woman’s hand, hoping her touch would confirm what he was feeling. It did. Her gentle squeeze and the wonder written on her face were all the assurance he needed the stone’s warmth had reached her as well.
United by memories of what had been and was no more, they began walking toward the distant horizon, the stone’s warmth infusing their hearts with certainty that somewhere beyond the storm lay a way of escape from the shadows.