There was once a king who lived in a country situated so far up in the north that the ground was covered with snow eight months out of the year. Each spring, the snow would turn to streams of frigid water that rushed down the mountains, and this was the king's favorite time, because the sides of the ravines would bloom with close to a hundred thousand flowers -- and the king knew the exact number, for he had ordered a regiment from his army to count them, and they did -- the petals of which sparkled like tiny stars under the white sun.
The colors of these flowers crossed the entire spectrum, ranging from a red deeper than any blood (even that spilled on fresh snow) to a perfect violet that recalled the shadowed floor of a mossy forest on a moonless night during one of their brief summers. But of all the colors, the king liked the orange tone best, because he found that staring at it for just a few seconds soothed his vibrating, agitated heart in a way nothing else did, not the most delicious meal or winning ten games of chess against the smartest player in his kingdom, or even a night of passionate sex (and he had experienced quite a few of these during his twenty-eight years of life).
The problem was that these orange flowers, while beyond pure in tone, were quite tiny -- no bigger than a thumbnail -- and lasted only a few weeks, after which the king would find himself distraught and angry as he considered waiting almost an entire year before he could again expect to calm his ragged nerves. One year, however, one of his explorers returned with exciting news: thousands of miles across the sea, there were jungles filled with immense flowers -- bigger than a person's head, or even an eagle's wing span -- which grew and blossomed continually throughout the year, so that the people who lived there were never deprived of this magical color. The king wanted to know why the explorer hadn't brought one of these specimens back and the explorer apologized, saying that she had tried, but that the plant had died en route, and all she could offer was a a faded petal, which was nevertheless longer than the king's arm and contained a last remnant of orange, which like a golden ring dropped into a deep well disappeared before his very eyes.
The king, over protests of his court, his many lovers and even his subjects -- who all adored him because he had, despite taxing them quite heavily, invested the government's money in public transportation, libraries, opera houses and universal health care -- declared that he would have to travel to this fabled jungle and see the grand flowers himself, or else risk dying an unhappy man. And so it was arranged: a ship was procured and after many months at sea -- during which the crew encountered icebergs, hurricanes and attacks from giant squid -- they finally arrived at their destination. The king fell ill during a trip through the jungle, but insisted they carry him forward; he promised them he would survive, no matter how high his fever went or how delirious he became (and there were many nights when he screamed at his servants in languages that none of them could understand).
Finally, however, after eight days, they arrived at a clearing just as the sun rose over the treeline to illuminate an entire grove of the orange flowers, as brilliant as the explorer had promised. The king, in an increasingly rare moment of lucidity, wept because he knew that he had reached the end of his life, but he took the hands of two men standing next to him and pulled them down to their knees. 'It is the color of music,' he whispered, and as they raised him in the air and turned him slowly in a circle, so that his eyes were filled with nothing except that which he had longed for, he succumbed to the infinite night.
i so look forward to your daily explorations & explanations & exhortations & find each one somehow calming & encouraging & hopeful. thank you!
Posted by: robert | 03/07/2010 at 10:36 AM
Thanks, Robert!
Posted by: Matthew Gallaway | 03/07/2010 at 11:43 AM
I appreciate the concern which is been rose. The things need to be sorted out because it is about the individual but it can be with everyone.The initiative taken for the concern is very serious and need an attention of every one. This is the concern which exists in the society and needs to be eliminated from the society as soon as
possible.
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Car Parts
Posted by: thomasstarish | 06/19/2010 at 04:24 AM