Seeing in darkness

Discovery of the land of gold, green & glinting river

I was riding my bike, chasing the dimming light of day as darkness crept into the horizon.  Pink was turning to purple & purple to indigo in the blink of an eye.

I convinced myself that I'd reach home in time for dinner.  I mapped out the last stretch of pilapil & it seemed like I could make it.  It's just that I had to slow down every once in a while to swat clouds of gamu-gamo coming right towards my face.

As if one distraction wasn't enough, I also couldn't take my mind off the secluded, dreamlike part of town I discovered that afternoon.  I felt like Magellan landing in Asia & Pigafetta chronicling wonders never before seen.

The area was a vast plain of green & gold parted in the middle by a wide glinting river.  Rice stalks just as golden were swaying lazily to the soft breeze caressing the paddies on either side of the banks.  Save for distant huts & the tendered fields themselves, any sign of human habitation was nowhere to be found.

A dirt road abruptly started where the narrow paved road ended.  On and on I just went.  All there was to hear were the rustling of the leaves, the babbling water below, the rubber tires rolling against pebbles and earth & my own breathing.

I couldn’t exactly recall my way into & out of that place.  It must be real, though, musn't it? I saw it with my own eyes.  But surely it would take a while before I could remember the directions in case I wanted to go back.

Now as the indigo of the sky had turned darker, at the irrigation bridge where I stopped to catch my breath & to catch a break from pesky moths, I let my mind wander into that place & feel the calm that it had brought while I was there.  For a moment I wanted to go back.  But instead of convincing myself to do so, I just looked down & decided never to return.

I woke up to reality when a gamu-gamo found its way into my naval cavity.  I knew today's adventure had been over.  It's time for dinner.