This prompt brings to mind haunted houses or old castles where the enormous old keys needed a big hole for the old heavy, hunks of iron to slide into and turn. Such peek holes would tempt any child or snoopy adult to check out what goes on behind closed doors. Changing the idea of a keyhole to an open landscape or skyscape reveals universes that spark unlimited views and concepts that may be beyond our human eye to take in.
Lying on a sleeping bag under Utah’s, high desert sky, miles from any artificial light, is breathtaking. Looking through a naked human eye into a panoramic landscape where the skyscape opens the universe to unlimited views and ideas may be beyond our human ability to fully grasp. Aside from the occasional flashing lights of airplanes so high, there is no sound, the multitude of stars and the silence away from human-made machinery are breathtaking.
Coyotes may yip, yip. Twigs may snape, and stealthy footsteps of night creatures, accented by owl’s calls, draw the soul into a movie of endless possibilities. The dry desert air quietly fills the lungs; the eyes soak in the infinite stars and planets shining with extra brightness when the new moon hides in the earth’s shadow. Each planet in our solar system reflects our own sun’s light, and all the planets in other solar systems reflect their star’s light. It is a mind buster to realize we see the light from stars long burned out are, still sending light from billions of light-years away.
A deep breath of dry desert air may call you to your canteen while your mind and spirit soar with no boundaries. Magic seeps into each cell, tickling the mind and heart into realms with no definitions. While attached to your sleeping bag upon the desert floor, it feels more like a magic carpet with no limits and no attachments to the planet. Ahhh, the magic of beyond the beyond is fresh, inspiring, and opens many keyholes so big, so full, so always present that we may miss them.
We hide behind brick, mortar, wood, metal, cacophonies of motors, buzzing traffic, and blasting music at decibels frying our minds. The desert has no doors. It is alive with unseen life. It welcomes the searcher, the traveler needing no locks nor keys. It is full of unseen life, under a ceiling of winking eyes.
Chandler © April 6, 2021