The Shifting of Light

             I was seated on one of the wooden benches on DAP taking in this beautiful sight on a just-right cool day in Tagaytay when I noticed that the light on the lawn would change from minute to minute. First, the sun was bright and intense on the ground, then suddenly the light softened, and then the colors of the trees and grass would glow again. It was like someone up there was playfully folding and unfolding a giant umbrella over the area where I was. Looking up, I noticed a flurry of clouds move from the end of the sky farthest from me towards the direction over my head. Sometimes, the clouds took a lazy pace, taking their own sweet time to traverse the distance. But when I chose to pay close attention, up there was a spread of feathery clouds that seemed to be racing to get to a finish line.

               And that was when I realized how flimsy-looking clouds can reduce the intensity of the light and heat of the sun. Even for a fleeting moment, that which signified Life seemed to have surrendered its power to the seemingly weightless combination of water and air. It was a free-form dance of nature's elements which delighted my senses at that moment and rekindled memories of Clouds in my life!

              There have been friends who have provided me shade when the Sun had almost burned holes in my heart. They have banished fears and soothed my pain, even if just for a while. They are now gone from my life but were there when it mattered.

            I guess that I too have trekked through the skies to give friends respite from the heat. It would have made me happy to stay. But clouds can only obey the wind that urges them to move on. To where they will matter.