When one forgets...?
Blue, green, red, yellows so bright as to blind my mind's eye.... I wake to a world of colors all at once so beautiful and so vibrant that it draws a slight gasp of surprise. The ancient red star who has been my companion for eternities upon eternities has finally given up the struggle to regain his former glory, and has found in this release from vanity's quest everything he was looking for in the first place. It is as if a giant flower has blossomed in the night sky, a flower slowly expanding, spreading its petals to the heavens. Glowing tendrils of red and purple stretch out across the vault, dancing in celebration of their release from a seemingly infinite imprisonment within the vast, red form of my old companion.
As the initial shock of waking to this brilliant change in my environment begins to wear off, my thoughts drift to the future. The world on which I live will surely be dust in a few days, and this saddens me deeply. I don't even remember the last world on which I lived, the wandering of this one has been my occupation for countless eons. I'm not sure exactly how to part with something that I've become to close to.
I sigh....I haven't felt true sorrow such as this since the last of the people inhabiting this world left. I could have gone with them, I suppose, and I fancied the thought at the time, but I couldn't bear to part with the world which had given me such happiness, and never asked anything in return. So I watched them go. They sped off towards countless different planets, a branch in the evolution of their species. I can't remember exactly why they left, but I believe it was because of the age of their sun, and the apparent danger to them which he represented. Their departure was quite unceremonious, and indeed they didn't even think it worth their time to thank he who had given them so much, such was their flight. I remember that I rather resented them for it, this ignorance of such an generous benefactor. Their desertion of him in his old age, however, didn't entirely surprise me, as they treated their elderly in much the same way. The old were never killed outright, but rather, they were left to die, as if they were put away somewhere. They thought only of what could immediately serve them, and not of the things which the elderly had perviously given them, or of the sacrifices which they had made to ensure their happiness. I considered this a fate much worse than death, this slow, lonely decay to which they cursed their ancestors and, indeed, their sun.
I kept him company for the innumerable millenia which followed - their decision to leave was quite hasty. What they perceived as a threat I only knew as a friend and companion, I made up for their ignorance of his generosity. And now he is gone...and it is I who is alone. He would have understood my depature. I will not, however, make the same mistake which the people of this planet made so many years ago. I will forever remember him throughout my travels, and even as I watch civilizations rise and fall I will never forget his significance, nor will I forget his final, beautiful gift to the universe. The echoes of his dying breath will be the birthplace for new stars, and in a few eons I will return to this graveyard turned birthplace, and watch his children mature over seemingly infinite ages.
I depart, with the promise of return to rest my soul, although I know I can never truly be apart from one whom I've loved so deeply. Thinking of the ancient people of his planet has irked me, though, and a question burns in my mind and seems to invite countless years of speculation while I travel the void to my new home. When the people left his planet, the rich, verdant world which he had given them, and didn't seem to think at all of him or his gift, did they truly forget to remember, or did they remember to forget?
As the initial shock of waking to this brilliant change in my environment begins to wear off, my thoughts drift to the future. The world on which I live will surely be dust in a few days, and this saddens me deeply. I don't even remember the last world on which I lived, the wandering of this one has been my occupation for countless eons. I'm not sure exactly how to part with something that I've become to close to.
I sigh....I haven't felt true sorrow such as this since the last of the people inhabiting this world left. I could have gone with them, I suppose, and I fancied the thought at the time, but I couldn't bear to part with the world which had given me such happiness, and never asked anything in return. So I watched them go. They sped off towards countless different planets, a branch in the evolution of their species. I can't remember exactly why they left, but I believe it was because of the age of their sun, and the apparent danger to them which he represented. Their departure was quite unceremonious, and indeed they didn't even think it worth their time to thank he who had given them so much, such was their flight. I remember that I rather resented them for it, this ignorance of such an generous benefactor. Their desertion of him in his old age, however, didn't entirely surprise me, as they treated their elderly in much the same way. The old were never killed outright, but rather, they were left to die, as if they were put away somewhere. They thought only of what could immediately serve them, and not of the things which the elderly had perviously given them, or of the sacrifices which they had made to ensure their happiness. I considered this a fate much worse than death, this slow, lonely decay to which they cursed their ancestors and, indeed, their sun.
I kept him company for the innumerable millenia which followed - their decision to leave was quite hasty. What they perceived as a threat I only knew as a friend and companion, I made up for their ignorance of his generosity. And now he is gone...and it is I who is alone. He would have understood my depature. I will not, however, make the same mistake which the people of this planet made so many years ago. I will forever remember him throughout my travels, and even as I watch civilizations rise and fall I will never forget his significance, nor will I forget his final, beautiful gift to the universe. The echoes of his dying breath will be the birthplace for new stars, and in a few eons I will return to this graveyard turned birthplace, and watch his children mature over seemingly infinite ages.
I depart, with the promise of return to rest my soul, although I know I can never truly be apart from one whom I've loved so deeply. Thinking of the ancient people of his planet has irked me, though, and a question burns in my mind and seems to invite countless years of speculation while I travel the void to my new home. When the people left his planet, the rich, verdant world which he had given them, and didn't seem to think at all of him or his gift, did they truly forget to remember, or did they remember to forget?