Tuka
I walked down to the lake a few days ago just to be with the Wind and the Water. The lake is very low now and there was a large Rock at the edge of the water. I asked if I could sit on him and he said yes. As I sat there, he began to talk to me.
He told me he was very old. He was part of a larger rock that had fallen away from him - he was the matrix, its center. He said he and the other Stone People were not meant to be submerged under water here, and that he was cracking and breaking apart from the inside outward. He said he used to sit under the branches of a Pine Tree and all sorts of creatures sunned themselves on him, the sunlight walking through tree limbs on his back. Then People came and flooded the valley to make a lake. The water rose until it covered all the living things needing sunlight to grow. Including the Rocks here. “We need sunlight, too,” he said. “I am enjoying it now, once again until the water level goes back up. I have truly savored the sunlight permeating my old cracked and craggy body. Much like an Elder of your species enjoys sitting in the sun after long periods of indoor confinement. I am small now compared to what I used to be. I sat here and watched as the Human tribe cut down the Standing People around me. Everyone is gone now. Soon I will break in two, and then again and become as the tiny pieces of Stone scattered along the shore. But now, at leas,t I know that someone knew me as I am and will remember sitting here, listening to my words that no one else cared to hear.”
“But for now, I will bask in the Sunlight, Moonlight, Starlight and the Wind and the sight of the Great Wind Riders soaring above me. For the water will rise and I will be entombed in an aqueous grave. I will once again know the absence of Light and the loneliness of being in an environment that is not natural to me.”
As I stood up, I noticed a few feet out in the Water the stump of the Tree he was talking about. As I turned and started back to the house, he said “Tuka, my name is Tuka.
The next time I went down to the shoreline, I declined the offer to sit on him. Instead, I sat next to him, being to being, relative to relative. It is good.
He told me he was very old. He was part of a larger rock that had fallen away from him - he was the matrix, its center. He said he and the other Stone People were not meant to be submerged under water here, and that he was cracking and breaking apart from the inside outward. He said he used to sit under the branches of a Pine Tree and all sorts of creatures sunned themselves on him, the sunlight walking through tree limbs on his back. Then People came and flooded the valley to make a lake. The water rose until it covered all the living things needing sunlight to grow. Including the Rocks here. “We need sunlight, too,” he said. “I am enjoying it now, once again until the water level goes back up. I have truly savored the sunlight permeating my old cracked and craggy body. Much like an Elder of your species enjoys sitting in the sun after long periods of indoor confinement. I am small now compared to what I used to be. I sat here and watched as the Human tribe cut down the Standing People around me. Everyone is gone now. Soon I will break in two, and then again and become as the tiny pieces of Stone scattered along the shore. But now, at leas,t I know that someone knew me as I am and will remember sitting here, listening to my words that no one else cared to hear.”
“But for now, I will bask in the Sunlight, Moonlight, Starlight and the Wind and the sight of the Great Wind Riders soaring above me. For the water will rise and I will be entombed in an aqueous grave. I will once again know the absence of Light and the loneliness of being in an environment that is not natural to me.”
As I stood up, I noticed a few feet out in the Water the stump of the Tree he was talking about. As I turned and started back to the house, he said “Tuka, my name is Tuka.
The next time I went down to the shoreline, I declined the offer to sit on him. Instead, I sat next to him, being to being, relative to relative. It is good.
