One Thousand Years
Genesage
"PlantKin"
(Chp3:12b)
In the same spot where Tom had torn out a piece of the "bush", Eben stood.
Eben had never appeared tall, just now He looked like he had grown three feet. Standing there in front of the deformity. The obvious aberration in the uniformity of the Rose.
Eben spoke;
"May I enter into your presence?"
A still soft breeze blew past Tom. He felt it in passing him. Moving forward it seemed to part a spot in front of Eben. The One he was standing in. The place of “difference”.
It was as if to allow entrance through what appeared as a depression in the layers of blooms. Eben stepped forward as though they were mere curtains. As he did they parted. He pressed forward moving inside disappearing from view.
Did you hear that?"
Caleb asked with a look of wonder making his boyish appearance looking childish. This was hard to do with a ruddy beard and curly brown hair.
"Hear what?"
Tom turned around and addressed the group.
"That voice..,
Trembled Apple,
She spoke suddenly blushing under her freckles and blond hair. Tiny and almost dwarflike she hardly spoke at all but when she did she seemed most shy to comment.
"I Heard Nothing.",
"It was just the Wind",
"Your Imagining It" ,
"Nuh uh" ,
"Uh Huh" ,
"Oh yeah right, I suppose the bush, tree whatever spoke",
Conversations and opinions broke out immediately with speculations flying.
Brother Tom who was still standing and waiting declared absolutely,
"It was Our Father In Heaven"
Caleb almost added "Hail Mary", but Delilah had dug her elbow into his ribs and he merely chortled.
AbdullahVivor stood up and walked close to where Eben had entered the blossoms,
"It was The Rose"
Shalom Alecheim
“Peace be unto you my friend,"
Eben said with the softest of voice and most gentle of tones.
He pressed forward after speaking, from outer blossoms and tiny tendrils of vein like branches supporting them, to inner finger like projections softly pulling away as he made his way inward to the stalk. Moving inward, to the middle, the trunk, the Center of her Being.
Breathing deeply was intoxicating.
Now so much more so for it seemed to waft in through all the senses. A sense of tender caress; a feeling of fragrant address. An emotion of warmth and eminence. It was greater than a gentle enveloping bath of bare petals on naked skin.
Imagery flowed with the sensory perception.
No sensation and yet more than sensational than ever could be described or ascribe justice to it. This was a “kingdom of God” experience, this was what Creation was ‘meant to be.’
Solid as thick and as high as a Man could stand the Center of Rose was bare of bloom upon her "arms". Shapely and spry the Living Lengths were yet green and full of seeming life and trembling.
They swayed softly to and fro, yet parted for Eben to approach and encircled Him as he moved inward.
Eben embraced the Main Stock.
"Forgive me Rose I am so saddened and sorrowful of the pain you felt."
A shudder shook the surrounding blossoms.
One petal from somewhere above lightly fell upon Eben and since almost all petals were the size of a hand, Eben took the Petal and dabbed his eyes that had moistened over the recall hardly a few minutes earlier when Eben heard …,Rose Scream.
"I heard you and my soul was torn. Now my heart aches for you"
The Petal Eben used to wipe his tears he held in his Hand tightly.
"Will you share you Pain with us all?"
Eben asked.
"Yes,"
A tender still small voice whispered a reply.
For a moment the swaying stopped. Silence and stillness accompanied the response. It was almost as if both were standing waiting and listening for…..,
Eben released his embrace. Turning his back on Rose He stood as if stone.
A chill felt abnormal at a time such as this. Yet there it was, suddenly.
No seasons were present. The occasional gust of wind that blew came out of the North was no more than a tuft of teasing to the hair, or water, or blooms. Hardly worth noting and the Wind from the East seemed to blow it away.
But this chill was different.
Weather was never a factor, so far. As quickly as it occurred it ended. On the breeze no one heard anything, nor did they expect to but in the wind Eben and Rose heard what they had waited for.
With the Wind blow they heard what they expected to hear.
Outside no one noticed the scent of Rose was now missing in the air.
"Look."
Jumped up Apple pointing.
The bush shimmered.
The round ball of the tree shook. Shaking from its outer blooms to its central core. A development was happening. Rose was changing before their eyes. Everyone was held in awe, mesmerized as millions of petals began to fall.
Shedding her outer garments, she was being stripped.
Petals the size of hands fell from the sky and fluttered downward into piles. Falling from her limbs, rose colored and deep in hue these mighty blossoms shed. They became as gentle falling snow cascading down in red rain. Dropping till the inner blooms began to fall with a slightly lighter coloring.
Each succeeding layer loosed their blossoms letting them fall from without to within.
Every layer inside was slightly smaller than the one before it outside. Each one also had a lighter hue being closer to the heart. Being the deeper petal inside rather than the outer blossom.
"It's beautiful."
Delilah said and watched in fascination.
Abdullahvivor had returned to his own council.
He was lost in thought as he sat down and watched. He seemed intense and deep in contemplation. Reflecting to himself he held private conversation as if something had been triggered in his mind and he had much to consider.
Everyone else had stopped speaking and continued to watch the cascade of petals.
The waterfall of splendor continued as Rose shed all the blossoms and blooms from the top of her stature to the bottom of her trunk. It was glorious and tragic, magnificent in splendor, pixie like in detail.
The softest of muffled sounds seem to be the only noise.
As if the petals themselves were absorbing sound, not a word was spoken. None would have been appropriate just now, certainly none were needed as all eyes were watching and waiting intently.
What was happening or what was going to happen no one knew.
Tom still stood still.
Soon Eben could be seen hardly five feet away from the edge where he had entered. He stood quietly facing outward. His face carved in stone. He was unemotional but his hands held one enormous petal.
It was odd to see him as a pillar of stone in the midst of such genteel. A stark contrast, a rod of iron in a sea of sensitivity.
There was hesitation in his stature and anticipation in his pause.
Suddenly he collapsed to one leg, swooning as the last petals fell from covering Rose.
The last of the her glorious covering fell from her out stretched arms. Instantly like an electric shock there was reaction and motion. Most reacted when Eben fell, some from the moment the last rose petal fell. Electrical shock permeated the air.
One half of those who had been watching jumped to their feet to run forward.
The other half was petrified as though time had stopped. A few felt sorrow inexplicably. Emotions ran the gamut of feelings. Hardly a breath was heard as the one half of class moved while the other half held their breath.
No one knew what had happened, but all suddenly had felt “emotional.”
Caleb moved first. He was concerned for Eben. He could feel the sudden weakness from Eben as though it was his own. There was empathy. It was palpable. Caleb was worried and he surged upward when Eben collapsed.
His eyes were on his friend and mentor, not the rose.
Others had moved with him towards Eben but he was ahead of the pack. Even as he had accelerated, he stopped dead in his tracks barely three feet away from Eben. Eben whom he thought to help was still crouching to one knee in weakness. His head bowed, his stature as some great monument bowed down in respect.
What brought the reaction to move was Eben falling, what stopped everyone in their tracks was what Caleb saw.
Looking over Eben everyone could see what Caleb saw.
Though he was closest they could see why he stopped. The Center of Rose which was now obvious was visible to the naked eyes. All the petals had fallen away. The branches were denuded. Everything was laid bare to be seen. They all stood as “witness”.
There, standing as if clothed in stock and dressed in trunk, The Rose appeared as a figure.
Or appeared as the hinted outline of the figurine of a woman like being. Tendrils were reaching out in all directions like branches, but yes, the image of a person was impressed on everyone's mind.
All stood staring frozen in awe. Amazed in fear, it was a wonder and for some, fright. They had never seen anything like this before or ever imagined it.
“Plantkin”
Whispered Donald off to the right and alone, but no one heard him.
"Help me up Tom"
Tom did not move yet Eben rose.
