Fast Journey By Amin Azimi April-Sept. 1999 Lemar-Aftaab When I walked off the train, clouds were moving away, stars were twinkling brightly thanking God for the rain, trees were still dancing with the gentle music from the wind. The surroundings were quiet, with no trace of a human being. The sound of the train echoed from the distance, fading into the future. A memory was floating something was waking inside. Clouds of confusion were forcing me into a tiny space. No wonder, I could hardly recall the time and place. The feelings were only in existence, the thoughts were sleeping somewhere in a blank space. The images were floating like being[s] in twilight. My attention was drifting toward an unknown site, Intuition was whispering. I hardly knew who could be walking on this ground The town looked so old, the scene was like a painting, illustrating ancient Rome. I wasn't feeling alone a shadow walking next to me, the warm feelings were all around I reached to hold my hat, there was nothing on my head felt out of place, a hat was the custom of the town. I began to ask myself, my whereabouts Sounds were coming to my mind, nothing but a series of words, like children make up at a playground. Heard footsteps on the ground, felt someone watching me from a distance, spreading the news around. My feet were walking faster and faster, toward the coming sound A crowd was coming toward me with a cheerful sound. I hardly could see their faces. Fog was covering my confused vision. A man came close, embraced me, tears on his face were rolling down welcome home son sounded like, he was the father, I was the son. Wonder why I couldn't see his face, but the warm feelings were all around. When I looked at his invisible face, experienced a flashback, that was nothing but a reminder of a scene, saw some time, some where around. My mother was watching me, kindly thanking God, who brought her child back. She said, " My son it has been a long time, why you haven't written me a rhyme. My heart bleeds since you left. What took you so long to come back to town? I prayed for you day and night, God is my witness, he knows the rest." She came closer, touched my face, looked in my eyes. I looked at her face, the fading memory was emerging like a dream, felt like floating in space. The rest were strangers to me. Nothing was registered in the memory bank. The language was not one I was accustomed to. I asked, “How long have I been gone?” Every one was mute. Seems no one had the concept of time. I was looking at them. They were looking at me with no surprise. Looked like they knew me from another time I knew something was wrong. I don't know what they had in mind, it was obvious I had lived in that place, but, a voice inside was telling me, you belong to another place. My body was getting lighter and lighter, floating into outer space. The world was mute, nothing was visible, except those strange faces. The mother and father were no longer around, they vanished without any explanation. If they were real, why they weren't with me? I wondered, what was their hesitation? My soul was drifting, farther and farther into a deeper world. There was no trace of the existing world like a journey to the previous world. A sudden light forced my eyes open, the train was coming out of the tunnel. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Copyright © 1999 Aftaabzad Publications. All Rights Reserved. May not be duplicated or distributed in any form without permission.