Sat by the window

The man sat quietly by the window.

As he looked as far as he could see, he couldn’t see what he was looking for.

He sighed.

The man remembered when he was far away from this room. He had walked in the sunshine. He had not walked alone.

When he returned to the clouded land he never wanted to stay. He had wanted to be in the sunshine but he starved the seeds of belief until they withered away.

When there were a matching set of footprints next to his he was told that the impossible had already taken place. He saw that it had. When he was there he had believed with all his heart. He had the strength and resources of a panther right then. Impossibilities had been knocked down like skittles in a bowling alley. There was unfettered happiness.

Belief had multiplied before his eyes. Possibilities beckoned him forwards. They were excited.

Then his horizon had to change.

With whispered promises they parted ... just for a while.

The journey was the hardest part because the sun set as he moved west. In that first darkness he wondered, “What if?”

Behind him his belief lay scattered like Hansel’s crumbs. While he adjusted to the clouds he saw every day the path back to the sunshine became so overgrown with weeds of doubt that when the man did try to go back he could no longer find his way.

Nothing in the cloudy land matched his footsteps, so he resigned himself to sit by the window and look out with a constant wish.

He grew old as he looked.

He wiped the tear away from his cheek and said aloud to himself, “Who knew that loneliness would taste as sharp and bitter as a lemon? Who knew?” He slowly shook his partially bowed head and, from the corner of his eye, he saw the deep bleakness in his heart was caught on the face reflected in the mirror.

Sadly he thought “If only I had believed enough ...”