Solitude

"The Chapter Ends."

(Inappropriate cover image.)

Some of us, including me, can enjoy long periods of solitude although I would not choose it for the rest of my life. Kormt's self-imposed solitude begins well:

the clouds lift;

the sky is clear and pale, as if washed clean;

the sunset is flame and gold;

he has a world to himself and can do as he likes, the richest man ever;

there is frozen food for a hundred men for twenty or thirty years;

he will tend fields, orchards, livestock, buildings and the graveyard;

the far sea is visible;

a soft wind murmurs and talks in the trees;

he will protect his ancestral land from the encroaching forest;

the stars are brighter than he would like;

he will have to tend the street lamps...

At the end, he is overcome by the darkness and silence.

In his clogs, where I would not go willingly, I would not tend fields but read and meditate.