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11.01.2011

Disappearing

     "The day he first told me he 
was starting to disappear I
didn't believe him & so he stopped
& held his hand up to the sun & it
was like thin paper in the light &
finally I said, you seem very calm
for a man who is disappearing &
he said it was a relief after all
those years of trying to keep the
pieces of his life in one place. 
Later on, I went to see him
again & as I was leaving, he
put a package in my hand.
     This is the last piece of my 
life, he said. take good care 
of it & then he smiled & was
gone & the room filled with the
sound of the wind & when I
opened the package there was
nothing there & I thought
there must be some mistake 
or maybe I dropped it & I 
got down on my hands &
knees  & looked until the light
began to fade & then slowly
I felt pieces of my life 
fall away & suddenly I 
understood what he meant 
& I lay there for a long 
time crying & laughing at
the same time. "

Brian Andreas
Story People

15 comments:

Tara said...

Wow...this is lovely.

Erin Cox said...

Amazing. i needed this today.

:)

Kendra said...

so great.

i enjoy story of the day too:

http://www.storypeople.com/storypeople/SignupStoryOfDay.do

vintch said...

story people is on my list of books to buy. i've been contemplating it for a while, but this post just confirmed it--andreas writes in such a beautiful, straightforward way. your posts are like that too, my dear:)

Unknown said...

so lovely.

Anonymous said...

i feel stupid for asking, but i really want to know, what does this story mean?

Anonymous said...

I don't understand either...but I'd like to. Can someone explain it?

Kaylia Payne said...

This is writing at its finest.

jackie said...

holy cow.

meg fee said...

dear lizzy and anonymous:

i don't get it either! but i feel like it's on the tip of my tongue...as though i'm just about to figure it out--in my life--life is just about to reveal it.

but then again, some of the very best things--well, they're not meant to be understood.

Claire Kiefer said...

That hurt my heart.

Sonja said...

wow. that made me stop and think.

jackie said...

and meg, you described it perfectly to lizzy and anonymous :) that's exactly why any words like this are beautiful. because it's all right there on the tip of my tongue and the words can figure out how to say it just right.

Mackenzie said...

tearing up right now, this is so hauntingly gorgeous i can't even wrap my mind around it.

Beck said...

mmmm. that is so good.

another description for that familiar feeling.

thanks for posting that,
Beck

http://beckcourtpress.blogspot.com/