Starlight Over Open Sea
Not of this earth, this lad, you thought as you watch him wend his way through the party. Only a fragile thread ties him to the soil of this land that he calls home. His spirit wanders with the wind; his soul belongs to the sky. When he dances, and in his joy he laughs and sings, you know that you are in the presence of a creature unlike any you have so far met. When you touch him and feel that he is of the same warm flesh and pulsing blood as you, you wonder why to your eyes he seems to dwell in a world unto his own. When he closes his eyes, turns his face skyward and opens his arms—like a pair of wings; like sails unfurling—you hold your breath, thinking that that tenuous bond will finally stretch and break and he will fly away and find his way to his true home beyond the clouds.But you know that that is not the destiny that awaits him. Frail though the line that fastens him to this world, it will take the fiercest of fire to sever it, and you know, you see, that he will burn in it, that he will be destroyed in it. He will try to cling to each heartbeat and each treasured breath of air, but you know that he will tire of the struggle and will in the end let go. He will choose the path that will take him heavenward, to be one once more with the unnumbered stars.
And you bow your head in thankfulness for you have been given the grace to be with him when the time comes. You will be able to see him for what he truly is: starlight, bright over open sea.
fin
