Slaves of Time

Note: This post is yet another attempt at variety.

Late into the night. The waning moon hides her disfigured face behind the clueless clouds. The nomadic clouds drift away doing their business of being oblivious to the moon’s sadness or for that matter the entire cosmos.

A new blade of grass, that came into the world with so much expectation, now unable to stand the stillness lazily stoops over to make small talk with the other blades. Out of nowhere he feels himself being lifted by the winter breeze. Breeze, laden with moisture, carrying the fragrance of the distant buds that will bloom in a few hours and the cricks of the noisy crickets. The sudden bout of freshness lifts his spirits and he lets himself be swayed and caressed surrendering to the gentle breeze. Minutes of pure bliss pass and the breeze moves on to rouse the spirits elsewhere. The blade of grass recovering from the intoxication, realizes the presence that had not been there before.

A small droplet of moisture has been carelessly dropped onto his arm and there she was coy and demure, balled up in the presence of a stranger. The moon seems to have come out to wail out her loneliness in the vast expanse, and a few rays from the moon seemed to glisten through the new dew drop. He is fascinated. It feels so fresh, so exhilarating. He watches in bemusement as she lies there still scared and not wanting to know him further like in her own bubble.

He decides to make the first move. He closes the blade just a tad so he could encompass her on all sides. Startled, she moves down leaving a small trail that catches up with her and she ends up as a trembling drop away from his closing lamina. He recoils and immediately withdraws his closure move and spreads out to give her all the space she wanted. He feels like an idiot and is too embarrassed by his actions. Let her be he says to himself and tries to ignore her presence while all the while making sure he doesn’t sway so much to lose his visitor.

An hour passes. The breeze revisits and this time the grass is not excited but scared that he might lose possession. He could feel her shiver and this time she lets him encompass when he tried to cover her. He holds on to her against the breeze. The breeze seemed to hold no interest, none whatsoever in his possession and passes after dutifully gathering a few dust particles.

In the ensuing stillness he can feel the change in his visitor. She seems to relax and in doing so leans over him. He’s tickled with excitement. The other blades seemed to grow greener with envy. He is elated. Love is in the air. She smiles and after her initial inhibitions snuggles up into his arms. All world seems to grow insignificant for the pair and there they are drenched in peals of laughter sharing unadulterated love. In what seems to them like seconds passes hours. The dawn creeps up at the horizon.

The new lovers seemed to feel a bit uneasy at the brightness that shrouded them from the darkness that strangely felt like bliss. The sun comes over the horizon dutifully spreading his glow. The dew drop shivers and glistens at the same time. Her lover tries to protect her by drawing her closer. Its just a matter of minutes before the clinically efficient sun reaches for her. The blade of grass feels impotent. He could feel her clinging to him more trying to fight off the rays of sun, refracting the white light into the rainbow colors. Unperturbed, the rays keep soaking them and soon the inevitability of the fate strikes the lovers. Far in the distance a cuckoo bird sings in joy thanking the sun for his presence.

Minutes and seconds seemed much more significant than the eternity that they pledged their love for. The pair plead, try to reason all to a deaf agent of time. A slave who does his work loyally and clinically before he’s sent drowning into the ocean. In an hour she evaporates into thin air. The grass unable to bear the loss shies away and with a droop gathers dust. As the sun shines on through the rest of the day the grass weakens and tans and gets trampled and in pain does its duty of existence hoping that the same agents of time would bring him back her love.

A new day. Few broken dreams. A hundred new promises. And thus continues the cycle of life. Driven by time - the master.