Mountain

I've always been told I'm a bit odd, a little not right. I don't mind, I know I am. There has been much in my life that most would find strange. I've been places, seen things, and spoken to people around the world. One of those places changed my world, my life. I stood on the edge of a mountain and ran into one of life's magical moments, one of those once-in-a-lifetime memories that completely redefine who you are.

It was that moment just before dawn, when everything is silent, and you can still see the stars in the light of the sun. I must have been sitting there for only a few moments, but, oh, how slowly they passed by. I stood and stepped forward, and faced the greatest choice of my life. Should I...? Could I...? I inched forward slowly, until the very tips of my boots were on the edge. A few pebbles were pushed off the cliff, bouncing gaily to the rocks below. As my eyes followed the joyful little dance, my mind and heart raced. Could I...? Yes. But... Now. I took one last deep breath and raised my head to say farewell to the stars ... but there were no stars. As I had brought myself slowly to the edge, dawn had come. When my eyes reached the horizon, the dawn slowly bloomed in all her glory. The sky was painted in colors yet unknown, in swirls and splashes of beauty. I could see the mountains stretch before me endlessly, kissed at the edges by the sparking waves of the sea. Not now... No, not now. Not ever. I was filled with awe and found myself moving back, back from the edge, back to the world.

As I sat upon that mountain top, I found myself. This mountain, in all its unblemished innocence, had made me realize who I was, and where I belonged. I don't know if that mountain has changed much, though I doubt it. One day I will return to that mountain. See, I will say, I made it. I suspect in my own way, that mountain knew more then I did. I have never come closer to the edge then I was that one morning, when the world was so utterly still.

Even now, I visit that mountain everyday in my heart. I tell it my joys, my sorrows, my achievements, and my failures. And it listens. It may sound foolish to some, but others, they understand. That place, that mountain, gave em the world when all I sought was solitude. That mountain gave me the dawn, when I sought the night. But it's just a mountian, just a pile of rocks. No, not just a mountain, that mountain; I believe, I know, that mountain is not just a mountain. How? I just do. That mountain saved my life. I showed me the hope that is born in the dawn. It showed me that hope, though it may fade or die, can be reborn. It never truly dies, for while there is life, there is hope. So yes, maybe I am a little strange, a little off kilter. But hey, life spoke, and I listened.

Stop, it said, and LIVE.