The Discoverer - A Memory Gunter Heim "Ah" said the Discoverer as he was dying. "Listen to me what I have learned on the shores of the new land." And thus spoke the Discoverer on his bed of Death. "The shores of the land had been washed by the everlasting waves of the ocean. And they were white and clean. And the waves came in from the boundless distance as they washed upon the murmuring pebbles of the virgin shore. And the roaring of the sea mixed with the aching groans of the pebbles and both were answered by whispers of the wind as it agitated the green forest of palms. And I listened unto their tales and tidings. They were stories of olden days and faraway kingdoms. And the shores upon which I had landed were filled with the memories of times immemorial. Pregnant were these shores with expectation. The sun was brooding over the shores as I landed upon them, laden with the burdens of my soul. But though the sun was shining it reached not the forest. Dark was that forest of promising fruits. It answered the groaning murmurs of the sands and spoke not of joy. And a heavy mist lay on top the stinging palms of that eerie forest. Above the mist the sun shone bright. And on the shore there was light. Yet the forest of luring palms was sombre and nervously quiet. And my eyes gazed into the forest to know its soul. And the stems of the palms were like a gallows in Spain. And the writhing ferns looked like chains. `These are the chains of those that yet live on other shores' murmured the everlasting waves as they rolled unto the sands. And the dark and forlorn forest answered with a tremor of expectation to this. And I looked deeper into the dark mind of the deep forest to see what else there was. And answering my curiosity the bladed leaves of the palms began to dance the dreary march of joyful soldiers. And as the leaves mimicked the reckless dance of soldiership the waves turned red upon the white sands of the virgin shore. I got weary of looking into that dark deep forest and I asked the winds above to know some better lore. And the winds turned quiet. And the waves were silent. And the air was filled with the pregnant phantasies of the black forest." Thus spoke the Discoverer on his bed of Death as he died in the grand city of Cadiz. |