by Joshua Murphy

Created on: September 28, 2008

Isolation:

I grew up with the rest of the herd, but soon after I had strayed from my flock. I wandered away and the others soon stopped trying to find me. They said, "Where is the one who we grew up with, the one with whom we shared our youth?" But soon their curiosity abated and I was far from their thoughts. I met with others along the way and made some friends, but more acquaintances. I experienced cruelty in the form of abandonment and wicked words spoken my way. I slowly become painfully aware of all my shortcomings and hyper vigilant in my protection of them. I began to change and seek the approval of my detractors. In doing so I had unknowingly and unwittingly begun my descent into loneliness and empty pursuits.

Days transposed upon days and soon I was no longer young. I was not old, but my prime was waning and certain things were expected of me that I could not accomplish. I left my second home and lukewarm relationships in search of peace, but the weather soon grew cold and I could not travel to the place I envisioned would accept me; I could not reach the ground on which I thought I could stand firm. The sun rose faintly one morning and I realized I was alone. In the mist I could now see that I had walked too far from where I had once belonged. I no longer knew the landscape and could no longer recognize the path I had traversed. I cried out, but no one spoke my tongue, or worse, there was no one there at all. There is a fate worse than being the black sheep and that is being the lost sheep.

The ground began to rumble and I fell to my face. The shaking was violent and in its grip I looked up to see pieces of land like shards of glass break apart and fall off into the sea. Reverberations resounded in thunderous applause echoing their praises through the surrounding canyons. Tidal waves crested over the newly fractured shores covering the land in a heavy mist. Lava rolled down from the peak of this new country of mine, drying and retracing its steps over and over along a beaten path as though a thickened hot lead were transcribing itself onto a blank template, the prelude for life to commence. I cowered in the cracks until all this finally passed. When all seemed safe I emerged, trembling, to see that I was now alone- the new ground under my feet had separated entirely from its previous host and there existed no bridge to reconnect the two. I too had been distanced from all I knew. My island was my fate. It was my penance, my judgment, a destiny earned.

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