The River

Innumerable stars wrote their own story in the skies above, stories that had been foretold since time immemorial. Moonlight shimmered on the gentle ripples, breaking into a countless number of diamonds that faded with the twinkling of an eye. The swaying of the palm trees in a dense foliage of dark shadows against the backdrop of a purple sky, far across the vast expanse of the dark and mysterious waters of the great river sang a song, a song that you have never heard, a song of longing and pain...captivating the beauty of a place where time had no meaning and eternity was forever.

I saw her as a silhouette, in perfect synthesis with nature. As I approached her moonlight appeared to be bathing her in silver and I realized that she was like no other I have ever seen...at once human and ethereal, this was divinity...an idea of perfection. Almost inaudible, yet distinct, I heard her lilting and mellifluous singing, her voice resonating with the song of nature. The closer I approached, the more I began to see of her...and each step I took, slowed down the beatings of my heart. If this was death, I wanted to die faster. Her perfect feet were being gently caressed by the waters as she slowly made her way along the shores of the river. Arms swinging in careless grace, she moved deeper into the water, allowing the glistening waters to roll against her knees. The river seemed to be telling her stories from the mysterious past...stories about the many civilizations she has seen rise and fall, stories about kings and peasants, stories about love and lovers...of people who had used her depths to take them into eternity. Lulled by the almost complete silence and perfect solitude, she waded into the inviting coldness...allowing the water to touch her, feel her and make her one with it. She dived under effortlessly and came out, her body arched backwards and for a moment before she fell back again, the moonlight caught her nakedness...an epitome of feminine pulchritude. Long hands that arched backwards, perfectly accentuated taut and firm breasts above a tapered torso that extended further to the most beautiful pair of legs I have ever seen. Even before I had seen god and nature coming together, she was back again in the water. There was an eerie sense of sensuousness about the way she allowed the water to glide over her body...the river was seducing her and she was allowing herself to be seduced, as if answering a call of primal desire. In the languidness of her supple movements, there was a sense of urgency that beat in just the right rhythm. Both of them seemed to understand each other and in the knowing they were as one single whole.

It seemed a lifetime before she came out of the water. She walked right up to where I was standing and gave me a gentle kiss. Her lips brushing against my lips like an unknown secret. I stood transfixed and my senses crumbled into a mass of absolute nothingness and thru it…I saw her. I couldn’t begin to describe her even if had wanted to, because words were incapable and could not do justice to her beauty. She came up to me and smiled and gently taking my hand, she made me sit down besides her facing the river and its magnificent and haunting loneliness. Elfin and magical, she was obviously just an idea of perfection...her hands were the softest I ever felt. My mind swirled with everything I wanted to say, but no words came out, but I guess she understood and just smiled. I didn’t know when she started talking, but suddenly I realized she was talking…talking in a voice that melted even as she spoke. She spoke to me about beauty and passion, freedom and flight, passion, desire and dreams…she talked to me about love. Hypnotized, my eyes never left her and I listened as her words fell like silent raindrops. Even as she started talking, she came forward and hugged her knees, using her hands to cup her feet. I noticed her feet looked incredibly sensuous. I don’t know when she stopped talking, all I know was that sitting beside her and looking at the huge, dark, foreboding river that had diamonds sprinkled all over...I realized that sometimes beauty is all there is and nothing else matters.

The next day as the sun was setting over the horizon, I saw you on the banks of the river...you were sitting there looking at the river, lost in thought. Your lips were mouthing the tune of a song that was vaguely very familiar. I tried hard to recollect it, but couldn’t place it. I thought I will ask you when you snap out of your reverie. From the vendor who plied his trade on the banks of this mighty river, I picked up two cups of strong black coffee and sat down beside you. That’s when you noticed me. You didn’t seem surprised to see me at all. You took the coffee from my hand and took a sip and nodded in appreciation,

"This is beautiful."
"The place or the coffee?"