Amilcar learns a lesson. |
Amilcar’s Apotheosis There being some discussion, rumour, gossip and hearsay on the subject of Amilcar the hermit, renowned sage and enlightened one, his age being variously stated between sixty and eighty years, we can assume that he was already old when, one fresh and clear-edged morning, he found a basket with baby inside on the threshold of his mountain cave. The police being summoned by the judicious use of a cellphone proffered by the first of his supplicants, investigations material and metaphysical produced no erring nor desperate parents, this process taking several weeks, Amilcar had come to know the baby and decided that he would raise the child, its fate now entwined with the hermit’s and, besides, he cared for it now, having tended its needs during the weeks when the parents were sought. A diamond, one of many brought by followers in gratitude for the wisdom bestowed, was sold to provide the funds to support the raising of the child and, for the next twenty years, Amilcar tended, nurtured, protected it, while the steady flow of followers, come for the advice of the sage, dwindled and eventually petered out as his advice became a matter of the raising of children in the correct manner, the proper attention to education of the young and the need to consider the pace of release of a child into adulthood. This dedication of the hermit to the upbringing of his growing charge, left him without thought of the road to enlightenment and his advice on child care was not needed by those that considered themselves adept in such matters. Time found the hermit and the boy (for so the child was), isolated in their mountain fastness yet happy in the company of each other. When the boy was grown and eager to venture forth into the world, knowing the shape of his future and impatient to reach for it, Amilcar hugged him and let him go, understanding that, as he had been the boy’s deliverance, so had been the boy for him, lifting him from the sole contemplation of his own existence to a greater revelation of his capacity to love, this twist being the true enlightenment he had sought for so long. Alone as never before, the hermit smiled with the knowledge that his life was now complete. Line Count: 63 Free Verse For The Daily Poem: WdC Birthday Edition Prompt: Write a poem about being alone. You must use the following words from the song: diamond, shape, twist, deliverance. |