“Do you not see?” the nymph asks.

Her mischevious smile implies that the answer should be obvious. But no sensible response comes to mind.

“Whatever the path, the way through is always one step at a time, placed in the right place at the right time.”

She finishes her pronouncement with her hands and head raised high, eyes wide and wild, the smile now estatic. For she has uttered prophecy that all humanity has waited an age to hear.

“Easy enough to say. Not easy to do!” I explode.

What can a River God’s daughter understand of stumbling in the dark? How can one for whom death and decay will never touch understand the struggle we mortals encounter every day of our allotted lives. The river courses to one end, no matter the way!

“Never easy to do, no,” the nymph replies, ignoring the pique in my reaction, “But that every effort is what defines your experience, isn’t it?”

She’s right. Despite her immortality, she has plainly explained it! The difficulty is the point, because the struggle is everything! I’ve too often demanded the darkness yield light just because I cry enough tears without it. But there is always light to bear, even in pitch black.

It’s long past time to be such a light bearer.

I nod. Her smile becomes one of genuine joy rather than unadulterated madness. I can’t help but smile back.

rippling water

ripping sunlight across

each cascade

How ready I am

to follow its course

for Sue Vincent’s Thursday photo prompt: Hidden #writephoto