disOregonized

circa July 2008

We turned a corner in the forest where things seemed calm, away from the parade of people prancing about in costume. We sat in theater seats beneath the shade of Douglas fir trees. The energy was exhausting and we needed to take a time-out. There was a piano there in the woods and a little girl in a white gown was playing it. A moment passed before I realized she was playing, but when it became apparent, the two of us fell into a deep and existential trance. The girl played Beethoven's Moonlight Sonata. I felt a world apart from the merriment of the people there and all I could think of was everything dark and sad in life like that was all there ever was. I got lost in the haunting music like the undertow of a wave. It was for a time the last thing either of us wanted. When the song came to an end we stood up, wandered back and rejoined the circus. And once more everything was merry.