The Pond and the Fire

He was a pond. She was a fire. He sat idle in the motionless forest. The occasional ripple caused by a brave frog or a dumb leaf was all that ever disturbed his stagnant waters. All that could be seen in the pond was a reflection of the forest around him, so all he appeared to be was a product of what the environment decided. On foggy mornings, the pond was gray and unsure; on clear afternoons, he smiled blue and white; on stormy nights, he quivered under more wetness than he could bear. Then she came, at first a mere glow between the twigs but then a dazzling kaleidoscope of sparks and warm colors all around. The fire embraced the unchanging forest all about the pond, and the pond watched as amazing heat danced up and down the trunks, wove delicate fingers between branches, stroked and caressed all that was green with a body that blazed like the bright-gold sun. While the flames made their love with the world, the still water could only mirror that wonderful evolution happening right at its banks. Light flickered upon his monotonous waters just as stars entertain a boring night sky. The fire eventually tired of fuel and naturally strolled onward in search of more purpose; meanwhile, he stayed where he was.

The pond was suddenly surrounded by something new but nothing good. Snowflakes made black by passion brimmed at his shoreline and lightly made their way to the shaky surface, the only artifact by which he could remember that force of nature that came and changed everything. For years, years he sulked in gloomy residue, seeing only charcoal and ash where there once had been an abundance of life.

But then, what had been soot and wilted brush began to, over time, sprout anew. Out of the black once again grew green, this time a brighter, younger green, and the pond saw this and began to allow his coating of ash to sink. He witnessed everything around him slowly bud into a new forest, one that he could watch and appreciate in its whole potential. From seemingly meaningless destruction, new purpose reached forward, and he was thankful.