Chapter Two.

I stand at the mouth of my cave and gaze upon an enchanted landscape which possesses a
profound and sensual beauty, of a magnitude that dims the memory of all the beautiful objects I
have ever seen.
I see skies of brightest blue that shine as pure as sun-soaked crystal. They crown a gently
sloping landscape, verdant and luscious hills rolling into enchanting valleys and meadows, all
adorned with the rainbow hues of wild roses, which bask in the magic of a waxing vernal tide.
The inebriating scent of spring rides upon the warm current of a softly-whispering breeze. This
breeze reaches me and fills my being with an intoxicating sensation stronger than any wine
fermented in Mediterranean vineyards.
The skies are your eyes, the land is your body, and the breeze is your breath and the music of
your voice that sings to me a passionate song.
This song you sing captures my imagination with the vivid imagery of our embrace.
Hand in hand we stroll down mysterious pathways, into the sacrosanct haven of an ancient
woodland, where we explore a world that was created by the mutual acceptance of our desire.
And in our intimacy there is no reservation or restriction, forged as it were with our unified
desire for liberation and discovery.
Here in this holy wilderness, we explore each other's mysteries with reckless abandon, for we
are sheltered from all our worldly sorrows and miseries by the emerald canopy swaying
peacefully above us.
The forest protects our communion from the blemishing judgements of all who seek to bind us
in limitations.
No eye can see us dancing to the music made by the instruments of our passion, nor can our
music be heard by any ear, for it's melody is woven from the vibrations of our natural harmony.
My Lady, this world is a dream that we share and will to life each moment that we journey
together in the reality of our suffering.
It is the magnetism of our undeniable chemistry that holds this enchanted dream-world
together, and its unselfish offering of our individual fulfillment invokes in you and in I the need to
be beside one another.
We seek each other with a longing to embrace this shared dream and create the sanctuary
that harbors the promise of our solace and serenity.
As the days so swiftly pass me by, I find that your presence is the sole source of my joy and
comfort.
When you are gone, I relive the moments I have shared with you in a reality where I have
been stripped of everything that gave me purpose.
You found me in the aftermath of my death, while I was yet shattered by the weight of total
sacrifice.
The brutal hands of Fortune had taken the reality that I had built with the substance of my
Godself and crushed It without mercy.
Every shred of my identity was torn, by being made to exist after all that I ever possessed or
created had been cast into the impenetrable depths of the Seas of Oblivion.
I walked over the dust of my broken Soul and found myself in a world where I was fated to live
as nought but a faceless, nameless caricature of who I once had so mightily become.
The experience of such a terrible cosmic judgement left me in a state of emptiness--an internal
hell where I could do nothing but view the memories of my struggles and achievements as if
they were simply the remnants of a fading dream.
When you found me, I was but a trapped ghost searching for his passage to the Otherworld.
Although a ghost, your mortal eyes somehow viewed the emptiness that I was and saw an
image of the warrior I once had been.
Your appraisal of my spirit initiated the reversal of the judgement which had voided my entire
existence.
And your desire to explore the mystery of my being resurrected my spirit from the ashes of my
mortal cremation.
As I walk along these lonely streets I ask myself a single question: how can I resist the need to
experience intimately the woman who gave me the redemptive gift of rebirth?
Yeah, my Lady, you are the light that guided me through the dark depths of Oblivion....
© Leonard Rocco Grillo