Have you ever stopped and watched the rain fall down to the earth?
I have always loved rain... The way the air smells after a heavy shower, clean and with a hint of earth. Everything seems so clean after the sky has fallen... So clean and new... Colors seem more vibrant, awashing the gray world with wondrous colors.
But the rain always ends. It always slows down and eventually dissapates into the ground once again. From the heavens the rain is condemed to the gray earth.
The sky seems so empty afterwards... So lifeless and gray... As if the earth itself has taken the energy from the world above, as if the heavens have finally given up and the earth still continues to fight on.
The breath escapes me as I close my eyes and lift my weary face towards the sky above me. I know it will leave me soon, this rain, but until then I stand there and feel the small drops of life land quietly upon my skin...
The rain... it always makes me want to cry. To shed tears to match those of the sky. A darkening of spirit, one that I cannot explain. How could such a lovely occurence cause me darkness? Perhaps the rain is not the cause, perhaps it is something deeper than my tears...
Nothing ever lasts forever... Not even the beautiful rain traveling slowly downwards. Not even the green plants that spiral ever upward to accept the sky. Not even the souls that pass ever on throughout the world we call reality.
Infinity...
I taste the word upon my lips, letting the word soar up into the rain filled air... It soon dies, but I can still remember the sound and feeling of the word.
Infinity... The measureless space of time sometimes astounds me... That even after I die, the world will continue to breath and give life. That even after I die, people will go on breathing and admiring the rain. Time will always go on, always and forever press against the boundaries of this world. Life will continue on, and continue to die, and continue to live in the world we have created.
I look up into the rain, wondering. The rain is so much like our own lives... It is created by the sky and taken by the earth... A full circle of life and death, with nothing in between. If only our lives were ever so simple... If only our world was composed only of blacks and whites, with the grays unable to be seen.
A thought comes to me, small at first but gaining strength as it continues.
If infinity is what keeps the cycle of death and life dancing forever on... What happened if infinity were to break?
I smile, finding the thought inane. Infinity is here to stay, to forever keep the march of time from faltering.
But I cannot shake the feeling. If inifity were to stop, time to stand still, we would never die... Would never need a reason for death. Ages would never come and go, flowers would never wilt, life would never stop. We could truly live then, truly live in our aged world, never fearing the darkness that trails behind each and every one of us.
I open my eyes to the quiet world, realizing with sadness that the rain has stopped. Puddles have formed randomly everywhere, reflecting the empty and worn sky above. The images coming to me after a storm has ended always reminds me of my own empty soul, wrung once too many times.
But... If infinity were to break, were to end, then the rain would never stop... The rain would continue to fall gently to those who wish to turn tired faces upwards toward the heaven. Rain would continue to fall... The sky would cry forever...
A smile comes upon my worn face. A small streak of surprise flashes in my mind. When was the last time I truly smiled? I cannot seem to remember even the last time I could be considered truly happy. I look to the sky again, and a note of sadness enters my mind. The rain has stopped once again, after all. Already the puddles were being absorbed by the greedy earth.
My footsteps pick up again, trailing haphazardly down the black path. The air still tastes of moisture, clinging heavily against my skin. The leaves upon the trees are bright green, a flash of vibrant color against the lifeless sky. Water splashes beneath my steps, rippling outwards to its boundaries.
The thought of broken infinity still assaults me. I know infinity will never be broken, and I know time will forever assail us all. But I cannot help but feel... feel something... feel something in what the two simple words entail. I find myself believing then, in that moment while I walked upon the unnatural road, a feeling of hope. Perhaps the impossible is possible...
Hope... Infinity... Both strange and foreign words to my quiet mind and darkened soul... I shake my head, and smile again, just thinking of all I thought. Perhaps what I say is true, perhaps what I say is far from it. But I can always dream, can always close my eyes and imagine what the world could be like. A world of endless rain, a world of endless sky...
My feet stop upon a patch of soaked grass, the water curling around my feet. A faint sound is heard, a few times in all directions. With hope I look up into the sky, the darkened sky that I always see in my lightest dreams. A drop of water splashes against my cheek, heralding the advance of another storm.
