Tales of the heart #3: the artist
once upon a time ….
… there was a girl born with the spirit of an artist – everything she touched, made and played with was bathed in and transformed by invention and originality. Her imagination crowded her world with objects and figures of such colour, texture and beauty that she was constantly reminded of the joys of creation. As a young woman she met a man whose heart was as creative and as impassioned as hers. His spirit was as tumultuous and compelling as a whirlwind and so she was filled with both suspense and rapture as she leapt and tumbled alongside him. Together they gathered and gleaned and planted and built and moved ever onwards and it wasn’t long before they had children, two angels to fly alongside them. They brought her such pleasure but between holding them and keeping an eye on this wind lord she forgot to care for her own spirit.
She didn’t realise that each time her feet met the ground her spirit would draw strength and inspiration from the earth. But now the wind was pulling her forward so quickly that this connection was too brief. Even though she was following her heart, which was now bound to this man, a little of her spirit drained through the soles of her feet each time she left an imprint on the earth. And so she spun and danced through life, each year feeling a little more drained, a little more tired, no longer noticing the cries of her children as they called out to the glimmer of her spirit left behind. Eventually she lacked the strength to turn her head and could only look down to make sure she didn’t trip and fall as she was carried ever onwards by the wind, and at each fleeting touch the earth called out to her to slow, rest and be still, just for a moment.
