the power of place

I've always felt the presence of a “genius loci” -

that subtle atmosphere around places.

It followed me wherever I went

though I don't think I always consciously noticed it.

Ever since I started exploring my subconscious, things have felt different.

It's like a whole new world has enveloped me

not forcefully, but gently,

singing a sweet song just for me.

It's a song I never want to end

made of the greenest fields and rolling hills,

rivers of candy and cream,

and a bit of a sugar-sweet daydream.

Days are yet to come, days gone -

life hangs suspended between clashing realms, you find

one dark as night, a deep and shadowed blue,

the other, willows bearing fruit, a tempting view.

Unreachable by touch, but held within the mind.

The endless drilling, day after day,

"Write, write, write!" it commands, I obey.

"I don't want to!" I declare the next day with all my might.

It always finds a way and takes flight

no matter how tired I am.

I hate piling new lies onto old ones

but these lies are just fantasies, comforting thoughts.

None of this is real, even so

someone, somewhere, might see themselves

in this unlikely mix of traits.

It's better to be made by three than by one.

We all have stories within us yet unwritten.

They require time and direction

to coalesce and make sense.

The universe's secret?

To give us all the best.

We simply need to find the clues that lead to the truth

often hidden by deception.

Some might even call it “art”

marking the best place

in the minds of others.