✶ The Traveler and the Garden Without a Map

 

After many years of traveling.

Or seconds.

 

The Traveler came upon a path
that he could not remember having chosen.

Even the Mirror had fallen silent.

Even the Shadow no longer looked at the abysses.

There was only the path.

And the soft sound of footsteps.

Then the path ended.

On the other side lay a garden.

A gigantic tree stood in the middle.

They walked on.

Until they came to an old clock.

The hands did not move.

Yet time seemed to pass.

"Foreign."

said the Mirror.

A clock that doesn't work.

Or maybe she actually works perfectly.

answered the Shadow.

Then the clock suddenly pointed at him.

Crit...

A little further on stood a mirror.

The Mirror hurried there.

But when he looked inside, he saw nothing.

It looks awful.

No reflection.

Only the garden.

For the first time, he didn't know what to say.

The Shadow then looked into a dark pond.

But he saw nothing there either.

No depth.

No abyss.

Only the garden.

Now they both fell silent.

The Traveler sat down under the tree.

Hours passed.

Or minutes.

No one knew that.

Finally, the Mirror spoke.

I think this garden wants me to stop looking at myself.

The Shadow looked at the leaves above them.

And I think this garden wants me to stop searching for what is missing.

The Traveler did not answer.

He looked at the tree.

To the pond.

To his two companions.

Then he asked a question.

A simple question.

What if this garden wants nothing from us?

The Mirror frowned.

The Shadow as well.

No one had thought of that.

The thought lingered between them.

Like a leaf that could not decide whether it wanted to fall.

Then they understood something.

Maybe the garden was not a lesson.

No test.

No destination.

Maybe she didn't have to mean anything.

Maybe she was simply allowed to exist.

And perhaps they were allowed to do that too.

✶

And that is why the old stories say:

Some travelers search for meaning their entire lives.

And some find a garden

where meaning may rest for a moment.

✶