Chapter 32: Chapter 32: The goodness of life

Much time has passed. Life has been good, it has been calm.

 

Burch, having found a corner of the world where everything is peaceful has, too, found calmness. The quiet, the solitude, the sunshine - it gives her a chance to start healing. It is not the first time we have found such retreat from the horrors of the world, but this time feels more significant than the others.

 

The wind blows all around us, my softening stalk gently bends beneath the pressure of its presence. My thinning petals wave, dancing in the gale, as if they were the long strands of Burch’s curly hair which flows just next to me.

 

My worn roots hold firm in the soil of the beautiful meadow that we rest in, by the orchard, and they drink deeply of the nourished world. Behind us, some distance away, is a cliff and and beneath it is the ocean.

 

I lift my gaze towards the sun, letting it meet me in the middle of our love.

 

Hello, sun.

 

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