Chapters
 

 

In the house of Stone and Light - MIDI
"
Chapters"
by Lee Manges
4 / 22 - 26 / 2002


When I look at my life, it is like a book filled with chapters - like any other book.

In each chapter a part of the whole story is told but also like a great novel it has chapters, which intrigue the reader and the writer as well. They turn back to these chapters to recount when amazing things happened or suspense is heightened... the zeniths of the story.

New plateaus are often reached, but those few pages that make a book worth reading beckon one back.

Some songs refer to these as the
"glory days." In dreams, it is a longing to recapture a moment in time. The 15 minutes of fame that some get to touch upon.

As the author you want to re-read those pages and in looking at them you polish them a bit and in some cases hand out what you learned from it as advice... experience which has been garnered in life's trials. Some will recognize experience for what it is and garnish wisdom from it, others will say it is long toothed boasting - let time tell.

Our personal books though are book marked for us in numerous ways. A song may draw you to a chapter long ago written and bring it back as fresh as the moment it occurred. A simple piece of fabric, picture, or any of a multitude of things can cause us to flip to a chapter in the past.

Was it spring or fall? I remember the cloak and dagger, followed by the dreams in the mists. The stories of our lives are a thread in so many other stories of those other authors we interact with. Some make our pen script in bold letters while others allow pictures to flow to the page from a quill graced by angels. However, unlike books we can flip our pages and write new chapters.

Daily we write new pages to our book, like a diary that no one can look upon - except the author. So no one will ever see the beauty quite the way it was seen at that moment by the author's eyes, but it will be there stored in the vellum of our minds.

So what does my book hold? It would take a lifetime to tell the tale, or it could be encapsulated into short stories depending on who was going to hear the truth of my book. What will I write in the next? What about the future?
Love, truth, honor, success, and fame are what my pen lays upon the page now. If someone walks with me into the future I will write more of the same. If not, then it will be written in the air of the night as shadows pass in darkened places. With the silence of a soldier, and the promise of hope for the future - a world where fear and terror are held in check or crushed.

Either way the book will end one day.
Then it shall do one of four things that I can think of.
One, it will simply close never to be read.
Two, it will be read and judged.
Three, it will simply unravel and become parts of new books.
Or lastly, it will just show me that it and all its chapters were but a chapter in an even larger book.

So I ask,
"am I re-reading the chapters or looking at them to gain inspiration for new chapters?" Others would say I am stuck in a chapter and long to relive it or recreate the pages in a new chapter. When others have touched upon what I have written in my book, shared the same quill that wrote their history as well, then a bond has formed. Those who walked with you in the dark and helped guard freedom will be the only ones who understand the fondness of those memories.

Just because I don garb, find reminders of what has formed my book, and rekindle memories of days gone by does not mean I live in those memories. It merely means that they are a part of me. Will I ever do those same events again? No. Age does limit some abilities, but grants us others - and wisdom.

When I make a jacket that displays my journey and adventure, it is not living in the past but consider it instead a cover for the book. I want the world to know that I did make a difference, and that I did not go quietly into the night... like a spark the flares and dies. Is it showing off or vanity? Mayhap yes, but I earned it.
I walked where angels feared to tread, and I looked into those places which others dare not look.

It has been too long that my spirit has been at war, and some say I should awaken the child inside. I cannot awaken a spirit, which was laid to rest the first time I drew blood. Then they say I should allow the spirit to bathe in the water and wash away the sins, yet I would say they are my sins and my burden. I know where my soul is and where it walks along this crooked path. I have asked for the wisdom, I posses the key - the door is already open. It is a shame that others cannot see my house of memories and light, and that I enjoy looking upon my book of life within.

I could write chapters on love found and more, of romance, and friendship, and so much more. Maybe within the pages of this site you will catch a glimpse of a life which has done so much, but is ready to do so much more.

Chapters - the book of my life, and maybe yours.