Between the Broken Stone| Chapter 4

The cold boards of the ship feel cold against my back, but the shining rays of sun above me reflect from my body and back up to the sky. It is as if the sun is kissing me -- the red, the pain, the burn - all those things that I remember of love. In the moment where I exist between the biting boards and the enamored sun, I realize it is just a burn that had forced me to reflect upon the days of long lost love. Now forever etched in the memories of which I cannot recall.

The sun fulfilled its promise of a new day, and the Captain has fallen into the ocean, where now the inebriated sea has rocked my boat for hours. I finally see a horizon that is full of mountains and echos of soft music.

I get closer to the land and smell the ripened scents, the most beautiful rivers and hills, and piles of ice that look like crescents of broken glass. It is as if the beautiful poppy flowers have blown their seeds across the land and into my soul.

The sounds of music grow louder - a beautiful harp, or perhaps a dulcimer rings in the back of my ear. It is a forgotten melody in the midst of Africa - an Ethiopian landscape.

Alas, I have drunk the milk of paradise.