
Photo: Sue Vincent
They were literally walking on the bones of ancient past.
The bones of actual ancients, too, if you want to be exact about it.
He contemplated telling Liz then decided she was more likely to be spooked than awed by the notion. So he let the soles of his trekking boots crunch wordless greetings with each step, and he set his mind to wonder, radar-style, about the centuries he could not see and so few even knew about, yet lay here for every person to experience. Literally. Through the mounds. These monuments to earlier.
It was an odd thing. History.
Will others one day tread upon the remnants of his, and will any ever stop to wonder about the life he’d lived, the vistas his eyes had feasted on, the memories he’d placed into the air with every exhalation?
If so, what would they think, and how did he feel about the possibility?
Not great, he realized. Especially if those future humans would by then have skills for viewing molecules of thoughts or the equivalent … His mind, unearthed, would be a bit like having archeologists come across a buried midden: plenty of data, but far from being the end one would wish presented for scrutiny.
He shuddered. More from shame than worry.
“These are man-made,” Liz noted from behind. The path was narrow and they could only walk single-file.
He nodded, unsure whether she had misinterpreted his reaction or — as she sometimes could be — was eerily on point.
“I wonder if they had intended for anyone to walk on these,” Liz added.
He stopped. There was something in her voice. A fullness.
He turned to her. Her cheeks were wet. Her eyes were red. How long has she been crying?
Her lips turned up at what she must have seen in his expression. “I’m fine, Shawn,” she breathed. “It is just that there’s a sense of spirit pushing like a memory-foam against my feet …”
His own eyes filled and he shook his head, surprised at the emotion.
“See?”
“I do,” he nodded, reached for her hand.
The fields below them stretched wide and green to the horizon. The air sighed with the scents of grass and rain and years and sun.
“This place,” he braved, “it makes me want to be a better man.”
That is rather what this site feels like… it is indeed an ancient place and we named it the hill of vision…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Ah, then … the spirits found me just from looking at the PHOTO and made sure they informed me … ๐
LikeLike
So it would seem ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
๐ Yeah, I’ve learned that spirits are like internet connection – they manage to transmit things instantaneously across oceans and time zones. ๐
LikeLike
It is another dimension fromour own ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
Yep. We have to go to the airport, get through security, get squashed on an airplane, get bored, and finally arrive to be someplace in person, complete with jetlag … Spirits (and email) on the other hand … ๐
LikeLike
A much simpler form of communication…
LikeLiked by 1 person
Simpler? Perhaps … ๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
Many of the place that I’m walking, I’m thinking of the lives lived there before… hundred, thousands of years of their seemingly insignificant lifes
LikeLiked by 1 person
“seemingly insignificant” is the key here, isn’t it? For none of them were insignificant, even if we may never know them. They lived. They laughed. They cried. They did. They ruined. They created. They loved. They fought. They died. They survived. They left their mark on all there is. Nothing insignificant about that … and yet … perhaps they thought, or some believed, that they were worthless or inconsequential. … Love that comment.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That is beautifully put, Na’ama
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, my friend! ๐ Here’s to life.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh yay, I’ll drink to that!
LikeLiked by 1 person
๐
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you, Sue!
LikeLike
Thank you for this wonderful piece!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m so glad you liked it! ๐ I’m gratified. ๐
LikeLike
Thank you!
LikeLike