It's Still Life

Beyond an Intersection Named After an English King and a Saint
Six Sentence Story: Part 7

The Nature Of Being

Mist hangs close and clings to itself, a flutish tune whistling between the gaps of cold stone and purple heather—it’s an ancient hermetic song, calling us in and calling us out.

Nick and I are atop Dartmoor’s Hound Tor with its sweeping view over jagged outcrops of granite, and underfoot the forgotten world of a Bronze Age settlement, abandoned several millennia before memory, its soul liberated back into the hands of the cosmos.

For some, this is the world of Heathcliff and Catherine, and damnation … “The old ones walk this place,” I say, “they are mist; the soul of the moors; they are the land’s memory—the cosmos calls to them, yet they refuse to give up their quiet bones and eternal stories,” (the wind buffers my voice – I can hardly hear my own words) “but there’s no damnation here—there is solitude, eternity, a place to silence one’s mind.”

Nick is standing just a pace or two behind me with Hünga who sits like a lion guarding a gate, “Perhaps the old ones know to keep their interconnectedness secreted—it suits the mystery, to watch in silence … like you,” he says.

I turn, but his gaze is fixed on the horizon, the sunlight catches the edge of his face. “I am quiet,” I say, “because the world is too loud—one cannot understand the nature of being by focusing on oneself. My preferred voice is still.

“Some silences are as heavy as a river-smooth stone,” he says, “however this place,” (he pauses in thought) “it feels as though I should know this place,” and I nod, “The Theory of Recollection,” I say, and Nick grins, “No, it’s the Nature of Being … the soul’s memory,” and without thinking I reply, “Aye.”

…. continued Part 7.1

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Written for Denise’s Six Sentence Story, including the word “Close“.   Some artwork is created using Midjourney AI, and is identified as such in the ALT text or captioned. Images are copyright and not to used without permission, which I willingly give when asked, and when not for commercial use. Imagery and poems/prose ©Misky 2006-2024.

For the visually impaired: these photos (one is colour and a wide vista, and the other B&W) capture Hound Tor, a dramatic granite outcrop on Dartmoor, England. The image showcases the stark contrast between the dark, weathered rock formations and the lighter, rolling hills in the distance. The texture of the granite is evident, with its rough, uneven surface and deep crevices. The sky is a mix of dark clouds and lighter patches, adding to the overall sense of drama and atmosphere.