A STONE CAST ON THE WATER; GLANCING, DELICATE-LIKE/ ON ITS WAY, AND THEN, SLOWING, FINALLY,/ SINKING FROM SIGHT. IT WAS THE WATER THEN, OR/ SOMETHING SIMILAR; IT HAD REPLACED THE REALITY/ OF TOUCH; OF KNOWING SUBSTANCE; OF REACTING./ NOW, THAT NO LONGER HELD SWAY. THERE WAS NOT/ THE SLIGHTEST RESPONSE ON MY PART, NOR ON THAT/ OF THE OTHERS; THEY WERE NOT HUMAN ANYMORE: AT/ LEAST I DID NOT THINK OF THEM THIS WAY. THEY/ STOOD, IRREGULARLY GROUPED, STANDING, NOT/ KNEELING, AS FORMERLY, AND TO MY EYES, THEIR FACES/ HAD BECOME STRANGELY PASSIVE.  I COULD NOT DETECT ANY/ EMOTION; WHY, WHY, THEN, IS MY COMPREHENSION/ STILL RELATIVELY COMPLETE? IS IT THE SAME WITH/ THE OTHERS? NATURALLY, I COULD NOT DISCERN THIS;/ ALL COMMUNICATIONS HAD CEASED, AND THOSE NEAR/ ME, WHILE STILL MOVING, LITTLE PRIVATE GESTURES,/ WERE SILENT, UNCOMMUNICATIVE; I KNEW, INSTINCTIVELY, THAT/ WHATEVER WAS, THAT SOURCE, WAS NO MORE. WAS IT/ A REBIRTH? THIS FLASHED ACROSS MY MIND; VISIONS/ OF RELIGIOUS INDOCTRINATION , BUT I UNDERSTOOD INSTANTLY , / THAT IT WAS DIFFERENT: DIFFERENT THAN THOSE OLD/ DESCRIPTIONS: THE BIBLICAL INTERPRETATIONS. WHAT/ IT IMPLIED WAS NOT IMMEDIATELY REVEALED. I/ WAS IN A STATE OF BEING, NOT UNPLEASANT, WHERE,/ TO ME, TIME STOOD STILL. SPATIALLY, IT WAS/ NOT THE SAME. I HAD NOTICED, AS A CERTAIN/ ORDER OF THINGS TOOK PLACE, CHANGES OCCURING. NOT/ VAST CHANGES, BUT MANY SUBTLE ALTERATIONS. FOR/ ONE, THE SHADINGS, THAT NUANCE OF COLOR I/ HAD KNOWN, WAS ENTIRELY ABSENT. THE ALTERATIONS/ WERE FROM DEEP OCHRES TO EXTREME COOL COLORS/ LIKE BLUES AND GREENS. BRIEFLY, JUST AN INSTANT,/ I RETURNED TO EARTHLY PLEASURES, RECOUNTING MY/ EXPERIENCES, BUT THIS EVAPORATED RAPIDLY, AS THOUGH/ FIRMLY DIRECTED FROM SOME MYSTERIOUS OUTER SOURCE./ "I WAS LOST, AND NOW, I AM FOUND," ECHOED THROUGH/ MY MIND. PERPLEXED, I WAITED;/ NOTHING HAPPENED; EVEN THE BRILLIANCE OF COLOR/ HAD TURNED GRAY; AND, I WAS NOT SURE, BUT THE/ OTHER GROUPS, NOW APPEARED MORE INDISTINCT, AND/ SEPARATED. IT WAS CHILLING, ALTHOUGH I WAS,/ STRANGELY ENOUGH, BY THIS TIME, WITHOUT FEAR. THE DEPARTURE,/ I WAS CONVINCED, WAS THE BEGINNING OF SOMETHING/ ELSE. WHAT THAT WAS COULD NOT BE DETERMINED;/ IT IS AS/ IF ALL IS SERENE; YET, BEHIND THE LASSITUDE; YES,/ NOT ONLY OF THE SKIES; WHETHER THEY BE BLACK/ AS THE DARKEST NIGHT, OR AZURE BLUE, AN EXPANSE UNLIMITED, FROM HORIZON TO HORIZON, OR THE FLAT/ PROMISE OF THE HUMAN SPIRIT.
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drawn from life: Medium: litho crayon Title: Sergant Morgan, combat veteran, Remagen, 1945 |