Built from the Stars

A brief, poetic story written about a young man's connection to the Universe.

I always did respect that old man, but it was not until the day he broke the silence of our bond, like a fisher casting their line into the still waters, that I had fully realized his importance to me on this planet we call home. Maybe it was because of the wisdom firmly tucked inside the crinkles by his eyes"or maybe it was because of his hard, calloused hands that somehow had the most gentle touch that I fully believed he spoke the truth, and I was willing to trust in every word he had said.
When he sat me down at his farm, on a tree trunk overlooking the green pastures, with thick forestry closing the land in like a mother’s arms, he had looked into my eyes with sincerity and concern. I felt pebbles drop to the floor of my stomach, like those smooth stones in the woods sitting recklessly on the cliff above the bubbling creek. When I was a child, I had watched them fall freely through the air, my stomach fluttering, before they dropped to the stream below with a quiet splash.
He said to me, “Son, I know you’re hurting. I know that, for a while now, these trees haven’t been giving you enough oxygen and these nightly sunsets could only reach the peaks of black and white. I know that you wake up with a dry mouth and the only way you attempt to salvage the thirst is by drowning yourself in poison. I know that you have given up on the world, son, because you think that it has given up on you.”
I had looked up at him with sharp rocks in my throat, but he did not seem to notice how weak I felt at that moment. He continued, “We have all felt the way you feel at some point or another. We have all been dealt a bad hand many times throughout this game of life. But if there is one thing I want you to know, need you to know, it is this: our universe was born from an explosion of impossibility made possible, and mankind is nothing less than a stroke of stardust. Beneath your skin, among your veins, there is matter making up your body’s very own galaxy.
"Look at these trees, son; you see that big oak? It is related to you in some way or another. We came from the deepest oceans and we evolved into the wonder we are today. That is the beauty of life: we’re all connected"the mountains, the stars, us and our energy. And I can tell you right now, with great certainty, this world ain’t ever gon’ give up on you. And you, despite how much you try, you can’t ever give up on it."
As much as I wanted to hang on to the sadness like it has become my closest friend, he was right, and although the pain felt stronger to break than diamond, I had began to hear what he said. That afternoon, I trekked through the forest and I sang back to the birds. By the time I hiked upwards to the farm as nighttime fell, my lungs were lighter than air. The sun was setting across the horizon, breaking across the sky in rich and vibrant colors, and I joined that old man to watch the golden sun say its goodnight.