A Slice of Heaven Awaits Us Always, Beyond That Fence

Listen to this article

I had seen them peeking their innocent faces out of that stubby, worn out fence made with drift wood. Whether those geese were kept by a homesteader or they were en route to somewhere and had chosen to make a stop during their flight, I would not know. They were not the only pristine white beauties there, I also caught a glimpse of some delicate white bulbs scattered all over, I think they were snowdrops.

Rustic fences never cease to fascinate me. They invite me like some unfolding fables. As if I will find my truth there. Or an epiphany. Generally without any human company, I always see them guarding simple things belonging to nature, under an open sky, and yet ever so intimately.

But then, do they? I think they end up defining these small slices of heaven only more evidently, making them cozy, and accentuating their appeal even more, tempting one to climb them over.

When I spot such a fence, I just stop there and then, wondering what glorious sights it may be framing in a number of different ways, depending on from where one sees through it.

If I am passing by in a vehicle and it’s not possible to stop, as it was the case the day I saw those geese, at least my mind stops and stays there, refusing to leave for a long, long time.

The possibilities of a little verdant universe that lied beyond that fence had me daydream about it for the rest of the evening. I imagined sitting on the grassy ground in the middle of this idyllic setting…

Everything in this wonderous world is within about a three feet height. If you don’t sit down, you miss an awe-inspiring opportunity to heighten your awareness amidst all the present tense that nature around has to offer. I look into the eyes of the geese marching around in their trademark stately style, slowly, without uttering a sound. I follow the silk smooth glides of the butterflies floating around in the air making rounds of the snowdrops. Nothing more will happen for hours. Only this. Yet, every next moment is going to feel brand new, filled with a very rich nowness, and some surprises that I would have never experienced before.

This needed not to be an imagination. This absolutely should have been a memory. Of a real experience. But it isn’t. Why? Because it was not possible for me to stop, and it was not right to go beyond that fence.

If only we didn’t have our very important petty tasks that we prefer to attend to, over this grand but brief phenomenon called life. And in that brief life, if only we didn’t have these very important tiny boundaries, that we think make a piece of earth that eternally belongs to the creation, ours. Everything we want is not very far, it’s just beyond that fence – sometimes, the one built in front of us. Sometimes, the one we build in our minds.