REFLECTIONS

We stood at the very bottom of a saltwater basin

Surrounded on all sides by water and towering cliffs

Water rained down from the top of the cliffs filling our ears with a beautiful song as it fell into the water that surrounded us

On all sides our images looked back at us from the blue-green water

Reflecting in and off the water, and in and off the glistening blue-black cliffs

Our images appeared to distort and dance as they were pushed and pulled by the falling water and tiny waves

She asked me to look around, and tell her what I saw

Everywhere there was light, and moving, shimmering distorted images of us both

She told me to focus only on my image

My image - me - as dominos dancing and extending endlessly into a bright tunnel

Stretching – smaller and smaller - into infinity before finally disappearing

First, front then side then back always moving – distorting into something unrecognizable and then… the mirror image of me…standing looking back at me

Her voice seemed to come from a distance

“What do you see?”

“Time”

[pause]

“Not bad”

“The me here in the center is the only one that is real?

These others are reflections of myself walking through my life at different ages in different periods of time?”

After a briefer pause her voice seemed to come to me from an even greater distance

“No, none of them are real.

They are all merely distorted reflections of something else

In another place

Simple reflections of light

Nothing more, nothing less

None of them

Are you

None of these reflections

Including the primary reflection in the center

Are real

Or possess any real substance

They are simple reflections of events that took place long ago

In another place and another time

Far, far away”

There was a brief silence, then awareness

The water raining down from the top of the cliffs filled my ears with a haunting, yet beautiful song