Don’t forget your keys

“Don’t forget your keys!”
She said as he gathered his things
And prepared to leave for the day

Off he went
As he usually did
Early, as the sun was rising

But She was there
As She always was
Even if he tried
To leave before her waking

And grab them he did
Off the table where he kept them
The same place
Every day
Just as she reminded
Each and every day

For he found over the years
And as She perfectly knew
That if he didn’t keep them
In the same darned place
Every time
That he invariably sometimes left
Without his keys
And then he would be stuck of course
And not be able to get back in

Through the doorway he went
Into the great big World
And made his way
With the sun at his back
And the wind at his face

Thankfully he had dressed
For the weather that day
Or at least he thought he did
For where they lived up North
You never knew
What kind of weather might hit

It came suddenly sometimes
First as a mist
Then as a light rain
And then sometimes
If the wind was just right
Or wrong as the case may be
The light rain would turn
Into a full fledged downpour

And up North where they lived
A Rain could be cold
Quit frigid in fact
A biting cold
That swept right through you
No matter what you were wearing
Or even if the sun was shining

But he went about his business
Ran his errands and went to class
Listened to his teachers
Handed in his homework
Which for the most part was done
With care and attention
But not always did he understand
That which he was working on
As the case sometimes was
Even with the brightest and smartest
Of the Students of the World

And some teachers were kind
And warm hearted and nice
And would correct his work
In a gentle way
But other teachers not so much
They would slash and burn
That which he had worked on so hard

And he couldn’t tell really
Which ones he learned more from
The ones that brutalized him
Or the ones that went easy on him
But studied he did
Day after day
And year after year
Slowly and surely
Getting closer to graduation
When studies would be over
And he could enter the World
And find his vocation

But that fateful day
After a long day of school
And after his practice
Which was always a grind
In a physical way
But mental as well
As he fought against his body
And pushed it to its limit
As his coach screamed in his ear
And his teammates struggled to keep up

He had skill no doubt
And thats how he made the team
But his teammates were no joke either
And they kept him honest
Day in and day out
Especially those days
Where he felt like dragging his feet
It was his teammates then
That pushed him hard

And thats how he found his limits
At least the limits of his legs and feet
The limits of his mind
And the strength of his body
How hard and long he could push
Until he was just right there
At the very edge
At the breaking point
Just before
The whole system would fall down
The edge is what he trained for
Its finding and threshold

But he knew
And this was his secret weapon really
That when he was at his limit
His opponent was as well
And this last push
The very last one
Was the one that put distance
Between he and they

They saw him for his skill
For his hands and his feet
But it was his mind
And his spirit really in the end
That got him to the top
And over the finish line so to speak
Just ahead of the other guy
Which was the point of it all
Or so he thought
And so he had been taught

But that day
On his way home after practice
After classes all day
And the pounding by his teachers
And his coach as well
With the rain falling now
And the wind again at his face

He left the University
And starts don his way back Home
The road he had travelled
So many times before

He thought he knew the way
For he had travelled it every day
For so many days
And months and years
That way Home
The Path through the Wood

But he must have taken
A wrong turn somewhere somehow
And he found himself lost
In the Wood that lay
Way beyond
The University and the Courts

And the sun began to fall
Below the horizon
As he searched and searched
For the Path that would lead him
The Path that he knew so well
Through the Wood to his Home
Where it was warm and safe

But deeper he went into the Wood
The Path was lost now
And the trees and thickets
Grew thicker around him
And seemed to close in on him
As if it were alive
As if it were beckoning him
Tainting him even
To Come further and further
Into its very heart

But he kept his composure
As best he could
All the while thinking
For sure he knew the Way
So one foot in front of the other
The Path must be close
The Way must be there

But at some point
After the sun had set
And the moon rose above the trees
And granted him a small lamp in the darkness
He knew that he was lost
That the Way was far off
And the Path he had lost

And he was tired and weary
And the Wind and Rain
Howled in the trees
And came down upon him
Tainting him still
From the branches above

And the ground beneath his feet
Was wet and moist
No beast or fowl
Could he hear in the wood
Not even the chirping
Of any insects around

All had taken shelter
Against the Storm
One that starts slow
But in its persistence
Grows and grows
And creeps up on you
Until it consumes Nature itself
One that seems to seek you out
As if its looking just for you

And as luck would have it
With no knowledge of where he was
Lost in the Wood as it were
A small little Cave he found
An opening in a hillside
That looked oddly familiar
Even though he knew it not

Or so he thought
And in he went
To find shelter from the Storm
Even though he was not a fan of Caves
As darkness was not his friend
Nor is it a friend to many

And he sat finally
And thought he would
Just wait out the Storm
For his legs could take him no longer
And his heart was spent too
Weary after such a long day
And lost he surely was

He could still hear his coach in his ear
“More you little pansy! More! More!”
Pushing him and his teammates
Harder and harder
And he thought maybe
That he had pushed so hard
That his mind had been lost
In those sprints and drills

And that was how he lost his way
In a Wood he thought he knew
On a Path that he had travelled
So many times before

Into a deep sleep he fell
As he curled up on the ground
Resting his head on a rock
In the most comfortable way he could
Even though the ground was wet and damp
Even in the shelter of the Cave

And as the Wind howled outside
And as the Rain came down
Harder and harder outside the Cave
The howling seemed to subside some
As he faded into sleep

And this is where it turns fuzzy
And hazy a little too
As dreams sometimes do
One of those types of dreams
Where you’re not sure if it is real or not
Or when the dream starts
And the real world ends
Or when the real world begins
And the dream has ceased
As the case may be

And in his dream
He heard Her again
“Don’t forget your keys!”
She shouted at him
Through the dim haze
Of the dream that he was in

And after some time
He was not sure how long
He woke again
The Wind still whistling
The Rain still coming down
But somewhat calmer now

And then through the corner of his eye
He thought he saw a dim light
Coming from a small passage
In the back of the Cave
And followed it he did
Because he was curious
And because it was still
Not time to weather the Storm

Further into the depths he went
Down through the narrow passageway
And the passage seemed to beckon him
Call after him in a way
And he followed it deeper
Through its twists and turns

And as he ventured along
Keeping his hand on the wall
To keep his way as it were
But not in total darkness he was
For the dim light still shone
From somewhere beyond the edge
Of that passageway in the Cave

And that was what he followed
Down and down it went
Narrower and narrower it became
Until he could barely fit any longer

And just when he was ready to turn round
When he had enough of this journey
After walking and sometimes even crawling
He finally came
To the source of that dim light

Into a large cavern he came
The narrow passage opened up
And he finally saw
The source of that dim light
It was from these great big icicles of sorts
That hung from the ceiling
Of the great cavern

And they burned with a light
That shone not bright but dim
But altogether was bright now
That he was in a great big space

And then something wonderful he saw
Around him in the cavern
And he almost could not believe his eyes

Drawings and paintings
And markings and designs
That were drawn with great care
That seemed to dance and sing
In the dim light of the cavern

There were beasts and prey
And images and symbols
Geometric some of them were
And phallic too
With Venus like shapes
And half man half beast figures
Carved into the walls and rocks
In a myriad of colors even
Dancing in the dim light
That shone from above

And as his eyes wandered
And his Soul lifted
As he took it all in
He caught out of the corner of his eye
A shape on the ground
In the corner of the cavern
Just across
From the most beautiful of the images
Of the half man half beasts
Just underneath

A drawing of a Woman
Or what he thought was a Woman
With great breasts and large hips
That seemed in a way
To be orchestrating the scene
That he had entered into
As he stood mesmerized
By the artistic display

And then just in the middle
Just on the floor by the image of the Woman
There was this mound
That rested just by the great images
The beasts and shapes

And on the very top
There rested a skull
With a great snout and sharp teeth
Fangs even hanging from its edge
Of some beast or animal
Which he did not recognize

But was fearsome no doubt
In Life before Death
And before it had been mounted
On the floor of that great cavern
In the center of that wonderful display

And he could feel in that moment
A great surge within him
A string tingling up his spine
That filled his whole body
Coursed through him as it were

Culminating in a great energy
That seemed to gravitate
To the base of his head
On the top of his spine
Where it met his brain
And from there emanated
Through his whole body as it were
Up and down through his back
To the edges of his limbs
To his eyes and ears even
Sprouting from the top of his head
Or at least thats how it felt

For a moment or an hour
He did not know how much time had passed
He just knew that that light
That energy and that tingling
Was Good and Just
And Right and True

And then eventually
Into a great silence he emerged
And the tingling subsided
And the light passed through him
Or beyond and above him
Or beneath him or below him
As the case may have been

And he found himself just then
Standing in front of that
Altar of the Beast
An offering to the great Mother
Or at least that was how he saw it

And his mind seemed to connect
To the authors of the scene
He understood what they must have seen
What they must have felt
When the constructed that space
And drew those drawings and pictures
And placed the skull of that great Beast
In the center of its midst

Perhaps they danced and chanted
In that sacred space so many years ago
Beckoning to the spirits
Of the only world they knew
Surrounded by the images
Who were alive and buoyant
All around them in the great cavern
The world which they had painted
Of the only Life they knew

And after some time
After the energy and the tingling
Faded away into the darkness
And the dim light seemed to grow dimmer
And only the silence remained

He knew it was time to go
For he could not stay there forever
And She was waiting
He knew that to be true

And he took one last breath
One last look around
Took it all in
One last time

And off he went
Back the way he came
Into the narrow passage
That had led him this way

And he knew not
How much time had passed
He just knew that he had to go
To find his way back
To his home somehow

And back up the winding tunnel
He went following the Way
That he had come
Until he finally found himself
In that Cave that he had rested in
On that fateful night
To shelter from the Wind and the Rain

And he left the Cave jus then
And ventured again out into the Wood
For he had to make it Home
She must be worried now

So off he went
Back into the Wood
To try and find his way home
To try and find the Path
That led Home

And after walking a little further
His feet now wet all the way through
From the Rain and the Storm
That had finally subsided
Even though the Wind
Still whipped through the trees
As if to remind him
Of the Storm that had come
And raged through the Night

Until in the distance he saw
A great cliff
And the trees and underbrush
Suddenly and abruptly
Came to an end
And he found himself standing
At the very edge
And then he could see finally see
Just how far he had come
There in the distance
He could make out the University
And the Courts too

And he had no idea
How he had gotten that far
And that high even
How he had lost his Way
Or where he even was

For he had never come this way
Even though he knew this Wood
Even though he knew the Path
He knew the Way
Or at least thought he knew

And he turned quite suddenly
As he heard footsteps behind him
Small and light feet they sounded like
Passing through the wet underbrush

And as he turned he saw Her
There She was
With a grand smile on her face
As if to say
“I told you so”

And she said to him just then
With a grand smile on her face
Such warmth and compassion really
But scolding too in a way
“How many times must I tell you?”
“To not forget your keys!?”

And just then the strangest thing happened
A great Light came out from her body
That almost beamed from her smile
From her heart though it appeared
He was not sure

And it was like that feeling
In the cavern that he had ventured into
But greater still was the feeling
That passed through his form
That cur through the very essence
Of his Being as it were

It was hard to describe
But as he stood there on the ledge
It was was pure Love that he felt
Or that was he only word
He could come up with to describe it

The Light connected them
Made the Two One as it were
As it engulfed the whole Wood
And devoured Her and Him

Her Love for him
And his Love for her
That bound them together
In that great Light
In the midst of the Wood
On its very edge
And the Light warmed him up
And he became less weary
And regained his strength
All of a sudden just like that
Almost like he was sitting beside
A hot fire in his living room
After a great warm meal
After a long and deep sleep

And an energy surged through him
Like one he never knew
Like the feeling in the cavern
But greater still

And then all of a sudden
After being immersed in the Light
In this effervescent Love
Everything seemed to fade
The Wood and the trees
And the Light even too

And in that moment
The Wood and the Rain
And the weariness and the longing
And the weight of it all
That he had carried through the Night
Dissolved into the Light
Or so it seems to him

And there She stood
Smiling and beckoning
And chiding him too
After the Light had passed
And he was himself again
Standing just there
At the edge of the Wood
In the morning dew

And he felt very light
In a bottomless sort of way
Like the world beneath him
And his Fears and Longings
Held him no longer
And he felt Free
In a way he had not felt before
And great Joy was in his heart
For a reason he knew not

And as he stood now
Over the cliff at the edge of the Wood
He could now see
Much further and farther
Than he ever knew

Across the University and the Courts
To the world that lay beyond
The one that he was preparing for
The one he had trained for
All those years
And the one that She had told him about
That one day he would venture into

And then as he looked around
To see if She was still there
Or if She was just some apparition of ghost
He could not see Her anywhere
She was gone just like that
Even though he still could hear
The echo of her voice
Piercing through the morning mist
“Don’t forget your keys!”

Just as quickly as She came upon him
She disappeared and was gone
And on his feet and grounded once more
He found himself on that cliff
Standing all alone
As the Sun came up over the horizon

And he reached into his pocket
And he found his keys
Jingling as they did
In a way that only his keys could do
In his pocket
The same one that he put them in
Each and every day

And then in the distance
He began to hear a chime
A great horn it sounded like
Off in the distance
But getting closer
And closer
Louder and louder

A fear rose up in him
And then a little despair
For the great horn sounded familiar
A calling in a way

And then in flash
Of awareness and familiarity
He knew that noise
Knew its source and its purpose

And he woke just then
In his bed at Home
It was the alarm
That woke him every morning
The one that stole him
From his dreams in the Night

And as he turned and looked through the window
Just beside his bed
He could see the glowing morning sun
Raising up over the horizon

And he wasn’t cold and wet
Although maybe his feet were just a tad
But he was warm and cozy still
Being covered with blankets
In the comfort of his bed
In the safety of his Home

But the Wood and the Cave
And the cliff as well
Still lingered in his Mind
Drifted away as dreams do

They were gone just like She was
Even though he could still hear Her
In that beautiful voice
One that sang to his Soul
One the echoed from his dream
And the Light the great Light
That warmth and joy
He could feel that too
Even though it faded as well
Just like the darkness of the Wood

And as he moved to get up
To begin his day
And he shook off that dream
And it faded and faded
Until it was just a whisper
The dark Wood and the Cave
The Rain and the Wind
The Light and the great beast
And the images in the cavern
In the depths of the Cave

But as he readied himself for the day
The dream still lingered some
And he hoped that just maybe
He would find Her one day
And hear her voice
And maybe see the Light

And that in the end
Is the story of his keys
And why he kept them
In the same darned spot every day
On the table by the door
So that he would not forget them

Because he could still hear her voice
Reminding and scolding him
“Don’t forget your keys!”
With the wry smile
Of Hers that warmed his heart

“Yes, yes, yes…”
He muttered back to Her
Or to himself he was not sure

And off he went
Leaving his Home behind
And into the great World that beckoned

And the sun shone bright
And the Wind was gentle
And Rain was nowhere to be found
Just the Path in front of him
And the Way that he knew
And his keys in his pocket
So he could find his way Home