Silver Trail

Heryshaf walked on.

Dorik's words had left him more confused than before.

He had searched outside himself and been told to look within.

Now he had looked towards within and been told there might be nothing there but reflections.

He walked faster.

He did not notice that he was walking faster.

'Excuse me.'

Heryshaf continued.

'Excuse me!'

He stopped.

There was nobody there.

'Down here.'

Heryshaf looked between his hooves.

A snail looked up at him.

'Hi,' said the snail. 'I'm Paulo. You look frustrated.'

'I am.'

'Why?'

Heryshaf sighed.

'A while ago I left home and went in search of the great meaning of life.'

'Ah haaa,' said Paulo. 'That Biggie.'

Heryshaf looked at him.

'Yes. You don't seem very shocked.'

'Of course not. I've met thousands who have tried.'

Heryshaf felt slightly less special.

'And?'

'And...' said Paulo.

Heryshaf waited.

Paulo moved forward perhaps half an inch.

'And...'

'Yes?'

Another half-inch.

'And...'

'What?'

'They passed it by.'

Heryshaf frowned.

'What?'

'They passed it by.'

'I know you said that. What does it mean?'

Paulo continued slowly across the earth.

Heryshaf watched him.

'Well?'

Paulo stopped.

'You are very impatient.'

'I am trying to find the meaning of life.'

'Yes. I noticed.'

'I don't have forever.'

'Neither do I.'

That stopped Heryshaf for a moment.

Paulo resumed his journey.

Heryshaf looked behind the snail. A thin silver trail marked every inch of ground he had crossed.

'Where are you going?'

'Over there.'

Heryshaf looked.

There was a rock perhaps six feet away.

'That could take you all day.'

'Yes.'

'Doesn't that bother you?'

'Why should it?'

'Because you could be somewhere else.'

Paulo stopped again.

'So could you.'

Heryshaf opened his mouth.

Then thought better of it.

'I have travelled mountains,' he said. 'I've followed rivers. I've met an eagle, a fish, a jellyfish, a crab, a peacock, an ant queen—'

'And yet here you are.'

'Yes.'

'Talking to a snail.'

'Yes.'

'Perhaps things are improving.'

Heryshaf laughed.

Paulo continued towards the rock.

'What did you mean when you said they passed it by?'

'It doesn't matter.'

'It matters to me.'

'Only a snail would understand.'

'Try me.'

Paulo considered him.

'You spend a great deal of time going somewhere.'

'I am on a journey.'

'So am I.'

Heryshaf looked again at the rock.

'That is not much of a journey.'

'It is from here.'

Heryshaf smiled.

Paulo reached a tiny stone and went around it.

'Most creatures think that because they are moving, they are getting closer.'

'To what?'

'Whatever they think is waiting for them.'

'And isn't it?'

Paulo shrugged, which was difficult to detect on a snail.

'Sometimes.'

'And the rest of the time?'

'They pass it by.'

Heryshaf became quiet.

Paulo reached the shadow of the rock.

'What am I passing by?'

The snail began to disappear underneath it.

'Paulo?'

A quiet voice came from beneath the stone.

It was singing.

Try and slow down.

You miss much in your haste.

For there is still one opinion you must not waste.

There is still one to ask for this life's meaning,

One who may yet help to wake you from your dreaming.

One that has seen all there is on this earth.

One without measure. One without worth.

He is the one that can conduct the whole ocean.

He's at the heart of a storm and causes its motion.

He can lift vast deserts. Uncover hidden treasures,

Yet has never been born and has no measures.

One you meet all the time yet never know,

And you can't ever see him come or go.

One you know by his deeds, for trees bow before him,

And try as you might you can seldom ignore him.

His touch can be soft or his wrath unfurled,

For he is stronger than any other in the world.

One that is everywhere present and a present to some.

You want to know the meaning of life?

Then ask the wind, my son.

The voice stopped.

Heryshaf waited.

'Paulo?'

Nothing.

He looked back along the snail's silver trail.

It crossed only a few feet of earth.

Heryshaf wondered how much Paulo had noticed in those few feet that he himself had walked past.

Then he noticed the wind.