“Breathe”
By George Marshall
Goldfinch slipped up. That is why his mother named him Goldfinch.
While he was still in the womb, his mother would feel him fluttering around
her heart. She took a deep breath and covered her solar plexus with her
hands. “You must come down here my golden bird, this is the path way to the
earth.” While others would slip and fall down, goldfinch would slip up.
Goldfinch’s mother’s name was sunflower; she had golden yellow hair that fell
in waves like the rays of the sun. She would often find him in trees or on the
roof’s of houses. Most often on the top of a high hill is where the boy would
be found.
His father, whom he never knew, had taken a long journey and never
returned. It was a mystery that was not spoken of. Often times young
goldfinch came home late. “Where have you been?” his mother asked him. “I
have been searching for my father” was the reply. Sunflower would breath
deeply and grow silent in a distant sadness.
One day his mother said to him, “The time has come to begin your dancing
lessons” “No mother” goldfinch answered, “I shall not go to the dancing
lessons” “But son” his mother protested “there are girls there and it will be
fun” “They are nice girls mother but they do not fly.”
Every day the lad climbed to the top of a high hill. Thee he would breathe
deeply and listen with his whole being. From a great distance he heard the
sound of a bell. It was not a bell with a clacker but one which made a
beautiful sound from the wind circle that found its way into the interior….
Rinnninninnn-------rininninninnnnn…rininninninininnnn
This sound calmed the flight of his restless soul and he felt a great love and
desire to see this bell. Though he knew it was far away and would require a
long and arduous journey.
When he told his mother of his intentions. She sighed and took a deep
breath. She held her tongue, for she knew there were no words to express
the emptiness she felt. She kissed the boy on the forehead and thought, ‘if he
is ever to find his way to earth, he will not find it here.’ Sunflower wept.
Goldfinch took only a small small knapsack and a walking stick, for he did not
like to carry much. “Lightness is like the wind” he would say “and should be
unhindered.” He soon ran out of provisions and had taken no thoughts of
money. “Oh well” he said, “the cows are my friends and blackberries grow wild
by the rivers. The good earth will sustain me.” What his mother did not know
is that his own peculiar way goldfinch had found his way to earth.-----------
When he was quite young she had called the doctor and complained of the boy’
s flightiness. The doctor listened to his breathing and said “Lots of air”. He
wrote a prescription ‘play in MUD’.
The boy played happily in the MUD. He loved the sky. It was the things {in
between} that troubled him. Things that did not grow out of the earth nor
find their way in the air, in other words, the places where people lived. He
traveled through valleys, across rivers, over hills and mount. He met many
people, most were friendly but some were mean. He traveled a great distance,
always listening for the sound of the bell that grew a bit closer every day.
Finally, after months or years (he no longer knew), he came to the sea.
The sea was vast and rushed into his soul like a deep breath. Before there
was only earth and sky but now the sea connected them. It was in-between.
And it was there, on the cliffs overlooking the sea that he saw the bell, and
for the first time, heard the unhindered clarity of its beauty. When he came
closer he saw a lame figure by the bell. She was polishing it with a fine
stone. For this was her job, to polish the bell so that it would retain always
the purity of its tone. Impressed in the bell were the words” This is the bell
of love and peace, blessed are they that hear it”
Goldfinch built a hut out of reeds and stayed in that place and took his tea
daily with the woman who polished the bell. Would it surprise you if I told
you her name is Rin?