The Garden at Midnight

A gentle breeze made its way through the secret, hidden doorways of emerald green leaves and into the yellow hideouts of the tulips, performing a solemn ballet as the stars seemed to stare down apprehensively at this notorious child of nature. The moonlight covered the grass in a fine white blanket, and a firefly laughed as it gazed at the mighty Neem from behind a gossamer curtain, its yellow torch deflecting like the laughter that erupted from its mouth. One could hear a steady drip of water in the distance, and the firefly turned around to see what it was.

The gardener had forgotten to completely rotate the circle that stuck on the top of the lean body of the tap and so, drops of a crystal liquid fell from it, as if the metal shape was crying in joy to make a moonlight pool for its melodious master, the cricket, who would run past the garden at midnight, humming its well-known tunes.

The dog living across the street gave a gentle push to the lonely dandelion growing amidst the freshly mowed grass as he glanced at the house where his owner lay sound asleep. The neighbourhood cat alerted everyone of its presence, and one could hear a feeble patter of its paws scurry across the lane of dried tar that stretched between the houses.

A phone rung in the distance, alerting the wind, the stars and the dog and the cat of their uninvited guest. The ringtone was a lilting melody, and it startled the Neem, who glared at the stranger, sending a shiver down its stiff spine and a leaf growing on its eerie branch to the ground.

‘I’m so sorry. It’s too late. She’s no more.’ A voice spoke, far away, at a distance none of the residents of the garden could imagine.

I sighed and put the phone aside, for I did not need more lilting melodies when there were so many around me already.

The wind was still prancing like a lean performer amongst the sap green bushes. The stars still played a silent game of hide and seek, their tiny forms appearing and disappearing into the coal black quilt that draped the sky into oblivion. The firefly stared in admiration at the form of the wooden lord that stood tall in the greens. The dog and the cat eyed each other suspiciously, then each finding the other of no interest, ventured back into the territory they were well familiar with. The cricket gave a splutter as it bathed in its pool, serene as the night that surrounded. One could hear a lot, yet no one heard my sighs.

My knees gave way beneath me and I stared into the black tunnel staring into my face, hoping for an entrancing form to appear so it would distract me from the weight of pain I felt, pulling me to the ground. My heart felt heavy and my mind distracted. I felt different.

Yet, everything was the same as before, and all the mortal and immortal creatures around the silent stretch turned a blind eye to my hurt state. After all, their pain was not mine, and mine wasn’t theirs.

I turned my head to look at the dog, who seemed to be whining for the company of its lost friend as he searched for it, pushing his brown snout amongst the grass. The stalks pushed away in the opposite direction, disgruntled to be awoken from their slumber.

I searched for his friend too, finding it right beneath me. The dandelion was at my feet. I wished to pick it and blow its feathers away, and watch them swing their tiny selves into the hands of the breeze, whom they could only hope would catch them. I did not pick it, though. I could not find the heart to do so. Instead, I lay down on my stomach on the freshly mowed grass, watching the dandelion sway to the inaudible tunes of the night breeze, to the tunes that the stars sang and the lyrics being the gentle snoring of the cat who now lay on a bed of sand right by the roadside, having found her true contentment there.

The world seemed to be asleep. Yet, the dandelion danced. It’s pain wasn’t mine, and my pain wasn’t its.

But that didn’t mean it could not be so.

A/N: Find salvation and happiness not in what is the biggest and the most beautiful, but in the ones who don’t talk, because they are not what they appear to be, and they need you as much as you need them. (Is this even me? 🙃) Thank you so much for taking out a few minutes to read my musings! It means a lot. Lots of love, Jai Sri Hari!