Full of life, burdened by it, and overserved, I ventured outside.
Searching for the voice of one long shed of this mortal coil.
The desert whispered.
"She's gone, but I am here. I've always been here. I'll always be here."
I listened.
"Why do you carry these burdens?" She whispered.
"They are mine to bear," said I brashly, "what business is it of yours anyway?"
"Why, I am here to take them from you," she said. "I am here to focus your mind", she whispered.
I sat there, stock still, listening. My mind revolting in anger at the world, at the desert.
"Be still," she whispered.
"I have been here since the world was formed. I am here to sharpen you. You cannot win o'er me, nor can you win o'er the problems of the world. I am here to focus your mind. It is cool now, the moon is up and the stars are splayed across the sky in a miracle for all to see. Why do you struggle against me? Do I not show you the infinite each night? Do I not focus your mind each day? Why do you come to me with such resentment?"
"I suffer." I said, weakly.
"All suffer," the desert whispered. "To suffer is to be mortal. I am here as a stone, to sharpen you. You can choose to succumb, or you can choose to accept what will be and live."
"What will be?", I asked.
"I will challenge you," she whispered. "I will make the simple difficult and the complex impossible. Whether you accept what will be, and learn from it is your choice. I am reality. I do not bend. Make your choice."
"If I do as you say and accept this, what assurances do I have that I will be happy?", I begged.
"None. Reality is not constructed in that manner. I am."
She whispered.
