'Voorstelling'

This afternoon, I walked in a warm and calm forest. Not a single puff of wind disturbed the lush undergrowth. Creamy sunlight making tufts of gold on the forest floor, lighting up leaves of brambles and mushrooms. Large patches of the purplest heather blossomed as if aflame. The trees conjured up scenes of the Jurassic, the Cretaceous.

And right there & then… for one amazing, ultra clear unbreakable, indivisible moment, a singular moment, one solid moment where time stood still and the whole cosmos felt as to be existent only in that this here piece of blazing forest, there and then I felt completely and thoroughly happy. There’s no other word to replace the banality with… perhaps ‘blessed’ if it hadn’t those religious overtones… or ‘jubilant’ if the nature of my happiness was not this most intimate, inward joy, for not a smile on my face, nor a song on my lips. Just intrinsic happiness and eyes that shot sparks. This was a happiness of well-being, the absence of danger and universal understanding. I stood still for one moment and observed this bemagicked location, the gnarled trunks, the creepers growing up the trees, the playful monkeys hopping around in the canopy, the lazy bees flying around me and the stupendous colours of the forest, before moving on. *

*Those requiring more authenticity and realism in their stories can substitute ‘monkeys’ with ‘pigeons’.