I came to myself amidst the great pull, crest, and crash of an indeterminate, swirling mass. Leaping from the frothy boil, I graced the cheek of a lady. Welcoming the mist with a gleeful cry, she did not wipe me away. She splashed and frolicked in the wake; at her side, the movement went on. Later, she retired to the sand, laying flat on her back. In the beating sun, water droplets became specks of salt across her skin. I was soon to join.
***
Then the screech of chalk. My heavy eyes fell upon the teacher. He stood before the class, watching a pupil scrawl lines of translation beneath his copied Italian verse:
Nel suo profondo vidi che s’ interna,
I saw that far within its depths there lies,
legato con amore in un volume,
by Love together in one volume bound,
ciò che per l’ Universo si squaderna…
that which in leaves lies scattered through the world…
The teacher turned and caught me rubbing the sleep from my eyes. “Sorry, did we wake you?” His speech felt so remote. As did the touch of my hand on my face. I rose and left the classroom without a word. My footsteps echoed loudly through the hallway and stairwell. I reached the door, pressed my cheek against the cool glass window, and looked outside. A blizzard. I opened the door and stepped out.
Walking for some time in the snow, I arrived at a park. I saw shovels and toys strewn about the white ground. Yesterday, I had walked past a group of children clearing the snow off the basketball court. They had since formed it into a mound, from which they had carved an igloo. I walked towards its entrance, squatting to look inside. Finding it empty, I sat upon the muddied slushy ground, and felt the wet seeping into my pants. Back against the igloo wall, I watched snowflakes descend through an opening in the roof. I let out a shaky exhale and paused for a blissful, silent moment.
Little footsteps and voices approached my hermitage. A young girl poked her head upside down through the roof. I held up my hands in surrender. She shrieked. I scrambled from the igloo. As I emerged, the other kids shrieked too. While I fled, my back was pelted with hastily assembled snowballs and insults.
I returned to the empty classroom at dusk and slumped, sopping wet, back into my chair. Looking to the board, I read another translation:
A quella Luce cotal si diventa,
Such in that Light doth one at last become,
che volgersi da lei per altro aspetto
that he can never possibly consent
è impossibile che mai si consenta…
to turn therefrom for any other sight…