Emergence

Imagine if you will, a desert, and you've been there a very long time. It has become your normal, for as long as you can remember. How can you keep going? It's the end of another long day roaming in the desert, and in the twilight you see something in the distance. You walk closer and in the light of the lamp-posts that line the path that has somehow materialized beneath your feet, that vague shape in the distance becomes something you recognize. It's a carousel and it's playing a song from your childhood. How it resonates with you, instantly bringing you to tears. Light emanating from the structure is bouncing off the tiny mirrors and gold that abound in its design into the darkness that is all around. You look down and you see tiny orbs of light on your feet and on your clothes. You have begun to sparkle just being near it. You choose to walk closer, up the stairs, onto the carousel platform. There is sheer delight and wonder in your heart. You look around and notice there is no one else here. You can see by the worn antique linoleum that many people have walked this way before, but where are they? It doesn't worry you surely they are safe. The carousel starts to move and so you choose a well-dressed animal to ride. You hold onto the bridle and take it all in. The delight of the carousel makes you forget that you are in the middle of a desert, in the middle of nowhere, and your feelings of lack and weakness disappear. Your eyes have become bright and you realize you are smiling, your heart fully alive because in the midst of this expanse of a desert you have found uncommon joy. It fills you up. A sense of sustenance washes over you and you begin to feel stronger, better, hopeful. The desert hasn't changed, it's still the same but you are different, in your spirit something miraculous has happened. You realize you are going to make it. You have a hope that will not fail. This is the heart of this piece, that there is a real hope that despite circumstances in this world we can get to a place of uncommon and unwavering joy.