Member-only story
Expecting Rain
The lantern lights the darkness,
but in doing so creates
all the shadows of the world.
Be on the lookout for signs, young one;
they’re everywhere in this world
just waiting for eyes
to manifest them.
Listen, at the edge of the forest is a cabin.
Standing in the threshold of that cabin is a boy.
The boy is staring out into a wilderness of mist.
Beyond the mist is a mountain.
Atop the mountain is a lighthouse.
There’s no water for miles around the lighthouse,
but the man who tends the flame is expecting rain, and
he’s been expecting it for thousands of years.
So, don’t measure your life by the standards of this world
for its rulers cannot number you.
And do not fret for what is lost or gained,
for loss and gain itself is a dream.
It is you, young one, standing on the cabin’s threshold
at the edge of the forest
at the edge of the mist;
it is you holding the lantern
and you in the lighthouse;
it is you who makes the signs
that you must find
to guide you.
