BEGINNINGS

The soul heard a rhythm, a swishing that held an echo of a universal sound. It sensed it was inside another soul. Delicate and new, it twitched and stretched in its form and felt the body it was in adjust itself to her movements. In darkness and warmth time passed Among all the sounds that became familiar, one constant voice held the deepest feeling of presence. A familiarity more true than time. She understood her laughter and felt soft joy, she heard her cry and felt an ache, when anxiety awakened, the soul felt its own pulse pick up speed. Sometimes the mother would hum and the soul would feel her own heartbeat slow as she drifted off in a deep rest. The soul listened daily through sleep and wake, for an eternity of its own, until one day the comfortable space she had become so familiar with had become too small.

Pressure upon pressure caused her little body to shrink, squeezing bone to bone and soft flesh towards some sort of finish. Sounds arrived of her mother’s pain and fear and guilt coursed through them both. Rapid heartbeats ever sensing each other. Soon, another death or life was near, this little new being knew not which. The moving constriction came to an end and she felt a strange coolness and space arrive. Moments later the icy feeling hit her fully and she saw bright lights and beings in a blur. Sounds became so loud! In a gasp she pulled in air, her insides feeling like fire and ice, a surprise as its power fueled her for the first time. A scratchy sound escaped her throat and she heard her own wild but somehow tiny voice. The sound startled her, as did all sounds but one. “Hello beautiful Fay”, she heard her mother whisper. What was said she had no idea. Yet she knew that tone. Softness. Her body was pressed against the outside of the woman she was just inside. It was not the same, but she was home.

©Lucy Hamel