Fragments Gallery
Solitude
The water, its hue a gentle cyan, surrounds you and laps gently at the side of the canoe. Your paddle dips in, slides free, and then slips back under the water repeatedly in a rhythmic pattern. You’ve been padding for some time now but your arms have yet to grow tired. Being out here is invigorating; the quiet and solitude awaken parts of you that you only now realize have been dormant for far too long.
The city could be... stifling. Civilization could cause you to retract your personality and retreat within yourself. So many people all around, all so loud, and flaunting their own uniqueness; it could be intimidating. The technology that surrounds our daily lives doesn’t help. It’s always demanding your attention; always giving you a portal from within which you could compare yourself to others. That comparison was not needed but you had to come out here to realize that.
With everything that went on, with all of the noise that surrounded you, it was nice to have some time away from it all.
As your breath passes through your lips it forms clouds in the icy air. The clouds quickly dissipate on the light breeze that sweeps ripples across the water. The paddle swaps to the opposite side of the boat and again dips beneath the surface as you propel the canoe forward. You have no specific destination in mind; instead you simply paddle.
The lighting, grey but luminous, that filtered through the morning mist illuminates the seemingly endless lake before you. Far ahead the world fades out to white fog but until that point all you see is gently rippling water. Along the shore weathered branches of driftwood bob with the ripples or lie half submerged in the water, the tops protruding like the masts of sunken ships. To either side you can see straight and full branched pines piercing the velvet mist. Those pines are dressed white with frost and they wear their icy garments proudly. Only the shoreline and nearby trees could be seen; fog blots out the rest of the far off forest.
That fog is soothing; the emptiness and calm it brings are a balm for your soul. This escape from the chaos is all that you need from time to time. This isolation, this solitude, is what helps you find your path; it helps you gather and organize your thoughts. This is what helps you remain calm.
The wind picks up and its icy touch sends shivers across your skin. You pull your coat tighter around your frame before you begin paddling once more. It is cold out, not cold enough to be unbearable, but with that wind... well it’s close.
A bird’s call from the left cuts through the air and in answer another bird cries out from the right. Beyond the chattering of those two you hear nothing but the wind and the swoosh of the paddle gliding through the water.
A fervent wish that you could remain here forever crosses your mind. But you know you cannot. Eventually the world will beckon and you will return.