Wooshhh, wooshhh, wooshhh …
Many years ago, a little boy awoke in his bed in the middle of the night to the sound of the wind, as it picked up and began tugging at the branches of the imbuia trees that lined the dirt track to his family’s secluded little house on the edge of the Brazilian rainforest. With the wind came a voice that spoke to the boy in warm tones reminding him of his belated grandfather:
“Don’t be afraid, queridinho.”
“I’m not afraid, vovô,” the boy replied, pulling the blanket right up to his nose.
“Haha, I knew you wouldn’t be. Listen carefully, for I have something important to tell you.”
The boy smiled wide-eyed in anticipation.
“You have a body and a mind, and yet you are neither. When you are fully present in both at the same time, they will come together in what you truly are. Your soul. That is when one and one become three to remind you remind you of the divine power of creation that has been bestowed upon you and all of humankind. Remember what I have told you now, queridinho, and also that I love you very much.”
The boy felt his heart beat faster and sensed the truth that lay in his grandfather’s words.
“I will, vovô. And I love you too,” he replied and blew his grandfather a kiss before his voice instantly disappeared and the wind settled in a matter of seconds.
Cristina Branco – Sete Pedacos de Vento
From the very beginning, everything was one.
Although the sun shone brightly, a chilly gust of wind made Esmerelda, a vivacious nonagenarian, shiver and pull the collar of her blazer a little higher so that it nudged her long silvery locks. Today was the first day of September and the wind that was sounding in the premature commencement of autumn had caught her slightly off guard. This was not how she had remembered the weather in the picturesque little Portuguese seaside town of her heyday. The time in her young adulthood when she sang, accompanied on the piano by the charming Eusébio, who was five years younger, in night clubs around the world. This was where it had begun though. In this little town that, like Eusébio, had found a special place in her heart.
“Oh, Eusébio,” she sighed, smiling with a twinkle in her eye.
The memory of his sweet face made her heart melt with a longing so strong that it reminded her of how he had rocked her life from the very moment she had lain eyes on him. It did not take long, however, before she wondered why she had returned to chase long lost memories, not sure what she would find. Then she smiled. She knew full well that deep inside, a feeling far stronger than desire had spoken to her by way of her heart. It led her to hop on board the first available flight to Lisbon and travel further by taxi to here, where she had checked into the hotel where she and Eusébio had spent their first night together.
To Eusébio, it seemed that very little had changed as he looked to his right through the car window at the windswept waves crashing on to the rocks that sheltered a peaceful little sandy cove. He smiled with joy and thanked himself for his spur-of-the-moment decision to follow what came to mind and drive down the coast to the place where it had all begun. The feeling in his heart synchronized with the swell of the sea and sent his blood racing through his veins in the same way as his memories came gushing back to him. Despite the lapse of time since they last parted, it did not surprise him how strongly he still felt for her. She who had walked into the tiny café that evening seventy odd years ago, making the heads of everyone, woman and man alike, turn, and caused his jaw to drop in admiration of her radiant beauty. it was then that he had to admit that love at first sight was much more than just a cliché. Even now, he was overcome by the same exhilaration as when she told him later that same evening that she was just as enamoured by him. Mere hours later, they had found their way into each other’s arms and melted into one.
“Esmerelda, meu amor,” he whispered longingly, “where are you now?”
As the words passed his lips, he was painfully reminded of the last time they had seen each other. To this very day, he did not fully understand what had motivated them to say goodbye for good. A lone tear emerged from the corner of his eye, rolled down his left cheek and disappeared into the corner of a wry smile. Sure, he had led a happy and fulfilling life without her and still had his children and grandchildren to love after his belated wife’s sudden departure, and still he found himself wondering what his life would have been like if he and Esmerelda had stayed together. At the same time, he grimly realized there would have been hell to pay if her father had found out that she was still in a relationship with him, the colonial boy who was deemed to be beneath her standing by everyone in Esmerelda’s family except for her mother. Ironically, she had been of simple origin herself and knew how hard it had been for him and Esmerelda.
“Thank you mamãe,” he said softly in memory of her, “for accepting me as your own.”
His fondness for her, spurred him on to his intended destination in the foolish hope of finding his long lost love once again.
Chris ReaChris Rea – I Can Hear Your Heartbeat
“Meow, meow.”
Esmerelda was shaken from her thoughts. She looked down to see a tiny kitten standing beside a brick wall.
“Meow, meow,” it squeaked again, as if it was beckoning her to come closer.
Esmerelda gave in to her motherly instincts and squatted down beside it.
“Oh, aren’t you a little sweetie,” she said with a smile of endearment on her face and began to gently stroke the kitten’s back.
“Purrr,” it uttered in reply and to Esmerelda’s delight, it leaped on to her lap and began nudging her face with its little head.
“Hmm, you’re a regular little heart snatcher, aren’t you,” she said laughing and kissed it several times on its forehead.
Right then, a sudden gust of wind caused her to look up to her left, where she was astonished to see a very old lady dressed in black standing right beside her.
“Vovô,” Esmerelda gasped with tears of joy flooding her eyes when she recognized her grandmother.
“Dear Esmeralda,” her grandmother replied, holding out both hands to her.
Esmerelda rose to her feet, looked into her eyes as if she needed a moment or two to fully grasp it was really her, before flinging herself into her arms.
“Oh vovô, how I have missed you,” she sobbed while her chest heaved, in the same way she had done at her grandmother’s funeral two days after her nineth birthday.
When she had stopped crying, they let go of each other and stood there face to face, holding hands. Then her grandmother spoke the same words she had whispered in her ear only seconds before she drew her last breath:
“Remember, my child, that despite our differences, it is in these very differences that we recognize and meet each other. So, treat others as you would treat yourself, with compassion, for we are one and the same.”
Esmeralda smiled radiantly with gratitude.
“Thank you, vovô.”
The words had barely left her lips when again a gust of wind caused her to look away. This time her attention was drawn to the brick wall where she had met the kitten. To her disappointment, she saw that the kitten was gone. Intuitively, she turned towards her grandmother to discover that she too had disappeared as mysteriously as she had appeared before her only minutes ago.
When you make the two into one, and when you make the inner as the outer, and the upper as the lower, and when you make male and female into a single one, so that the male shall not be male, and the female shall not be female; then you will enter the kingdom. – From the Gospel of Thomas
Earl Klugh – Living Inside Your Love
It was with mixed feelings that Esmerelda made her way back to the hotel, where another surprise awaited her.
“An elderly gentleman asked me to convey an invitation to dinner in the dining room,” the young man at the reception told her, smiling as if he knew something she didn’t. “He also said not to waste any time changing clothes, because he can’t wait to meet you.”
She was so puzzled by the news, that the most obvious answer to her question as to the identity of her host was lost on her. That soon changed when she entered the dining room. In a cosy little corner at the back of the room by the window, sat the mysterious gentleman grinning from ear to ear and gesturing to a wine cooler with a bottle of champagne in it.
“Eusébio!” she exclaimed in sheer delight, as her heart began to beat faster, and rushed towards him.
“Esmerelda,” Eusébio replied as he rose to his feet and opened his arms to welcome her.
The two old lovebirds fell in each other’s arms and held each other tight before kissing passionately. They were unaware of the few other guests smiling at them dewy-eyed, moved as they were by this spontaneous display of affection.
“Can you feel it, meu amor?” Eusébio asked when they had been sitting at the table sipping their champagne for a quarter of an hour.
“Yes, of course,” Esmerelda said smiling. “We have always felt what the other felt. But tell me, what exactly do you feel?”
Eusébio smiled back at her.
“It feels as if we’ve been together our whole lives. And the funny thing is, my memories of our last moments together are becoming hazier as we speak.”
“I know what you mean. I can’t even remember parting.”
“Parting?”
The frown on his face made Esmerelda wonder why she had mentioned the subject.
“I’ll tell you what,” she said, “let’s forget everything and just enjoy our time together.”
“Yes, let’s” he replied and reached out his hand across the table.
She laid her hand in his and smiled that smile that he knew all too well and told him her heart was overflowing.
George Benson – We As Love
Later that evening after enjoying a delicious and lengthy meal together, Esmerelda and Eusébio made their way upstairs to her room just like they had done all those years ago that night when they first met. Without uttering a single word they proceeded to slowly undress each other. Then, while they lay naked on the bed in the moonlight that shone gently through the opened curtains, they took their time in rediscovering each other’s sweat glistened skin with their mouths and hands. Slowly but surely, they opened up completely and simultaneously experienced something they both knew had been an everyday occurrence in their early childhoods. That pure and natural state in which young children continuously find themselves through the connection with their souls. While tears trickled down their cheeks, they spoke to each other with their eyes: ‘In love there are no boundaries or differences. As love we are whole.’
Time seemed to pass slowly, but it wasn’t until the early hours when they drifted off to sleep into a shared dream of endless possibilities, in which they walked hand in hand along the banks of a small lake. As they enjoyed the tranquil scene that they were suddenly part of, a pair of swans came gliding in and landed graciously on the surface. It was a moving scene that made them wonder if, unlike they, this couple had always been together. The answer presented itself instantly in the form of a twitch of the heart: ‘Yes, we have been together our entire lives. Not just as a couple. Also as two single beings, for we are naturally balanced: physically, mentally and spiritually. We are never truly alone, as are you both. We are simultaneously whole in ourselves and part of the whole.
Earl Klugh – I Never Thought I’d Leave you
A strange feeling overcame them when they woke up early the next morning. It was actually much more than a feeling. Rubbing the sleep from their eyes, they looked around to discover that the room was not the room they had fallen asleep in. Judging by the timber walls and floorboards, the sliding glass door that led to a second storey verandah, the sound of parrots shrieking and the warm, musty smell that drifted in through the open windows, it felt as if they were in a house near a tropical rainforest.
“Huh?” they said in unison as they looked at each other with puzzled faces.
Then they remembered and began to laugh. With tears pouring from their eyes, they hugged and kissed each other to express the joy of realizing they had been together all of their lives.
Later that morning, Esmerelda and Eusébio strolled to the secluded little waterfall just outside the property that had belonged to Eusébio’s grandfather and to his father after his grandfather had died. There they sat down on a rock in the cool shade of the trees with their bare feet dangling in the refreshing water of the pond that was filled by the waterfall.
“Who’d have thought I would have ended up living on the edge of the Brazilian rainforest,” Esmerelda said, giving Eusébio the smile she reserved for him.
“Well, that goes for me too. This still feels like a dream.”
“I know, but somehow it all makes sense.”
“What do you think happened?” he asked with an intrigued look on his face.
“The same as you.”
“You mean we live in parallel realities?”
Esmerelda didn’t answer. Instead, she slid her hand into his and looked deep into his eyes, conjuring up the most beautiful smile he had ever smiled in his life.
EPILOGUE
Once upon a time, many years ago, a young boy sat with his grandfather in their secret spot by a waterfall on the edge of the rainforest.
“Listen, queridinho,” his grandfather said in the warm tones that the boy had come to cherish. “Can you hear it?”
The boy pricked up his ears and listened carefully to the gentle wind making its way through the trees to whisper in his ear: “You have a body and a mind, and yet you are neither. When you are fully present in both at the same time, they will come together in what you truly are. Your soul. That is when one and one become three to remind you of the divine power of creation that has been bestowed upon you and all of humankind. This is what comes about when we reunite as one.”
TO BE CONTINUED
In the coming months, I’ll be posting a sequel to this story in the form of a trilogy called: ‘Return to paradise – Body Mind Soul’. Would you like me to keep you posted? Subscribe to my blog by filling in your name and email address below and I’ll notify you of the latest stories.
So you started from the bottom
But you always saw the light
And now you’re ready for your journey
One direction, reachin’ high
Keep the feeling of the spirit
Always present as you climb
One direction, one vibration
That’s the message, let us try
From: ‘Straight Ahead’ by Kool & the Gang
Kool & The Gang – Straight Ahead
Symbolism:
Swan: Awakening the power of self; Understanding dream symbols; Seeing into the future; Faith; Grace; Transformation; Tranquillity; Unity; Love; Loyalty; Purity; Femininity
Wind: Spirit; Breath of life; Messenger of divine intervention
Air: New life; Power of the mind; Communication
Images:
‘Black And White’ by picturexphotobnb on Pixabay
‘Wave’ by ruidgs on Pixabay
‘Spin’ by Victoria Borodinova on Pixabay
‘Cat’ by AdinaVoicu on Pixabay
‘Swan’ by moonzigg on Pixabay
‘Torrent’ by Atlantios on Pixabay
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