A Touch of Reverence by Jaylee Balch

A TOUCH OF REVERENCE

'I know that blogs are supposed to be written and released as per a set number of social and business rules. I know that blogs must pander to specific needs and meet certain criteria. I know that blogs should hit the button of trending topics and that opinions should be a large part of the content.

I know all of this . . .

And so I am a drifter - A person who meanders away from where the crowds are.

I meander because I search for signs of something elusive yet inexplicable. Like a rare butterfly, in a garden carefully crafted, to invite normal average people in. People, who want to look but not touch, take but not observe, keep to the beaten path and avoid the grass getting in-between their toes.

I meander off the concrete pathways that hold the rules and I walk on the wet grass, sometimes incautiously just missing a beetle. Sometimes, I stumble through the foliage and find a glade that is hidden from sight – hidden from normal people. With no paths and no rules, outside of sight and sound, I catch a glance of the elusive and the beautiful beyond comprehension.

I see across the clearing, where the grass stands to attention and leaves bow down from the trees in reverence . . . I see the hummingbird. It is not just any hummingbird. The tiny wings are fluttering so fast that it is surrounded by a blur and it seems featherless. Iridescent shades of blue and green and purple hold it in place, for every cell in its being wants to die there and then.

But the colours keep it suspended and safe, as if they have something to lose if they don’t play their part. My eyes drift slightly to the left and suddenly I understand . . .

The hummingbird has met its maker.

A finger reaches out to make contact and the tiny winged creature knows that nothing in that moment matters. Life and death are meaningless, for they are but ideas couched in eternity . . . moments to be touched and to touch.

Everything the winged creature aspired to become – is, and forever will be.

I witnessed the elusive and the inexplicable. The moment the smallest of creatures, mattered the most.

All because I meandered off the beaten track and forgot the rules.

- sketch by Jaylee -