Even when it seems nothing is happening down there, plenty of things are happening. Life doesn’t make breaks, only changes the rhythm from now and then. What stops, runs, begins and ends are things in life. Almost everything has an end, except life itself, light, love and dreams. That’s the essence… at least that’s what the little blue bird feels and someone else is learning or relearning with her. At least the clouds are learning or relearning. Each new discovery is just a new step in the same path.
That persistent cloud up there is writing on her hands her thoughts about what she is observing down there. When she stopped for a while to peer into the distance, in search of a word or just trying to understand, the wind arrived in a mixed mood of excitement and tranquility.
— Good morning, principessa! Beautiful and soft as always! There you are, always looking down. It seems you didn’t move a single millimeter since yesterday, though I blew a soft breeze in your eyes during the whole afternoon.
— Oh, no, restless rider! I moved a lot! Yesterday, today and every day. I spent the whole morning down there in the mouth of the river drinking drops of sweet-salted water. There’s no better flavor! It makes my soul rejoice… — she replied with a smile.
— Sometimes I wonder if water is your only food. I never saw you drinking or eating anything else — he observed a little bit intrigued.
— I eat much more than you can see… at least in the last days. I’ve been eating things that you can’t see or touch but are very real… the most real I’ve ever seen, feel or taste… But tell me, restless rider, what do you eat and drink, after all? — She asked with sudden curiosity.
—Well, I eat mostly air… The same is to say, I’m constantly eating myself, I’m an airofagus and a very self-sufficient one. Besides that, I eat almost everything… sand, leaves, flowers, pollen, dandelions, bugs, frogs, snakes and lizards, birds, sheets of paper, hats, the light of thunder, flocks of snow, drops of rain, floods of dreams and flying kisses… and sometimes I also drink plenty of water from the ocean, the rivers and lakes, but only when I’m spinning too fast and lose control. That always leaves me with a big headache for a long time and a great need to rest. Well, there’s something more… I also eat clouds from time to time… To eat a cloud is like eating and drinking at the same time. But don’t worry, I won’t ever eat-drink you… Even if I did, you’d stay intact and able to gather yourself again… In fact, that’s what happens with almost everything that I eat. Things just pass through my huge body, they don’t stay inside me. You keep the water you drink inside of you, but I don’t keep anything, just air… — he tried to explain and justify himself.
— Well, it seems a good fair diet to me! Our gastronomy also shows a lot about what we are… But what happens to the little animals you swallow? Do they stay alive? I just hope so… — she sighed in a low voice.
—Don’t worry, principessa… the birds just fly faster when they are inside me… the frogs, the snakes and lizards just fall down smoothly helped by your drops of water… the only problem are bugs… I can’t tell you exactly what happens to them because they are so small… But believe me, they are strong, much stronger than their size… More than once, I met a butterfly or a tiny ant that I was sure I had swallowed before… So, somehow, I guess they all survive… — he said trying to erase a little shadow of sadness in her eyes.
And then he added: —But you didn’t ask anything about the dreams and the flying kisses… Aren’t you curious about that? — he asked preparing to explain even if she didn’t ask. — I’m a kind of universal messenger, you know? I carry dreams between all corners of the world and some go along with flying kisses. And I never lost a single dream or kiss in the way… all arrive to their destiny… Only sometimes they change shape during the journey… some arrive as smiles, some as leaves, some as sunbeams, some as butterflies, some as birds, some as flying words… So, I guess some kind of alchemy happens along the way… And that also may explain the disappearance of some of the things I swallowed… Don’t you think this is a very meritorious task, principessa?
— Indeed, it is, restless rider! Who else could do it so perfectly if not you?! — She said in a very sympathetic tone. — I could stay here for hours, listening the stories of your adventures around the world. But not now… Now I have something really very important to do and I can’t delay it because it’s happening right now… And I can’t tell you much about it… I’m still trying to understand and learn… If you look with deep attention to what is happening below us, perhaps you’ll be able to see and understand something… — she suggested.
The wind looked below and all around. He protected his eyes from the bright light of the sun with his huge hands and then exclaimed:
— Yes, I see something! The lost sailor is still on the beach and the children of the fishermen are still around him singing that song… and it seems he is throwing stones to the waves… — he described a little disappointed because he was expecting to find something more.
— Well, it seems you are not looking deep enough… Can’t you see all the things that are growing on the dunes and on the water?! Look with more attention…! — She asked him expecting that he would finally see something more.
— Well, it seems that the stones come back and fall on the sand around the sailor… — he said with surprise.
— Well, now you are seeing something, but that’s not all… If you look closer, you’ll see that when the stones come back they are not stones anymore… they are colours and shapes… stars, butterflies, leaves, pieces of rainbow, footprints, sparkles of light, wings and words… and many other things… The little ant and the little bird are still around. The tiny ant picks everything from the sand and she has a huge chest full already. At night, she sits around it and is trying to make something with it. It seems like a book… with the scattered words she’s writing a story and all the other things are illustrations.
But that’s not the most amazing. The most amazing is what is growing all around… It seems like an enchanted forest growing over the sand and the sea. I noticed that something was appearing in the same day they arrived here, the sailor, the little bird and the tiny ant. But I couldn’t believe my eyes; I thought the sun was tricking me with mirages. Only that kept growing and growing day after day. Then, the stains of colour and the unrecognizable forms began to acquire more definite shapes… and I was able to see immeasurable rows of amazing trees, bushes of light and very exotic flowers spreading everywhere. The most amazing of all, was to see that growing over the water… I think that has something to do with the stones that become beautiful peaceful things… I still don’t know exactly what’s happening down there… but I can’t pay attention to anything else now… — she justified herself.
— I understand… and I also have important things to do… but did you ever speak with the sailor, the little bird or the tiny ant? And who is that woman bathing there… — he asked when he suddenly noticed someone bathing in the soft waves.
— Oh, that woman! I don’t know who she is, I only know she appeared here as soon the little bird and the tiny ant began the magic plantation and she keeps around all the time, though I don’t see her do anything… It’s mostly the little bird who does everything… I never saw her sleeping or eating… And I never heard her voice either; it seems she doesn’t speak, though sometimes it seems I’m hearing a second voice when the little bird sings… She is really very strange… I didn’t even try to talk with her or with the sailor, yet… But finally, last night I was able to talk with the little bird… She has a voice, but she doesn’t like to speak much, she just sings and is always merged in her mysterious tasks… — she was saying when the wind interrupted her.
— And what did she tell you? What is she doing here? What is she doing down there… though I can’t see anything? — He asked eager to know.
— If you are not able to see, I doubt that you’d be able to understand what she told me… She told me about the Forest of Dreams, its genesis and growth… I don’t know if I understood everything myself. It’s precisely why I must concentrate now… See you tomorrow… Within some days, weeks, months, years, centuries or millennia… perhaps I’ll be able to understand everything… Then, I’ll tell you the rest of this story… — and she waved him goodbye.
But before he went away, he looked down again and exclaimed:
— Look! The woman is coming out of the water… she seems made of light… from where comes that light?! She is really strange, indeed… — he asked in pure amazement.
— The light comes from within… I guess she has been eating dreams, after all… she’s shining like a rainbow on the stars… she’s silent but she speaks with colour and light… Let me hear her silence… Enjoy your day and your travels! I’ll stay here… — and she turned again her eyes to the wonders below.
Only light and love are real II,
photograph
Living in Eden II - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Seeds of hope III, photograph
Purely existing II, photograph
Purely existing III, photograph
A Moon in the shade, photograph
Close your eyes... and see I,
photograph
Butterfly night song I, photograph
Butterfly song I, photograph
Butterfly song II, photograph
Butterfly song I, photograph
Chalice with wings I, photograph
Happy to be happy I, photograph
Happy to be happy II, photograph
Happy to be happy IV, photograph
Smiling soul I, photograph
Smiling soul II, photograph
Shining together, photograph
The sun himself, photograph
The sun lives inside, photograph
Summer song III, photograph
Prodigal gifts, photograph
Softly growing, photograph
Happy to be I, photograph
Happy to be II, photograph
Entering the Gates of Eden, Luzia &
Sara - Monserrate Park, Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Dancing in Eden - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Walking in Eden - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Flying in in Eden - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Being in Eden - Monserrate Park, Sintra,
Portugal, photograph
Dancing in the night I, photograph
Feeding of light and colour I -
Monserrate Park, Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Happy to be fragile I, photograph
First rains in the forest,
photograph
Floating life, photograph
Flying tree, photograph
In the sky prairies, photograph
While the wind passes by III,
photograph
Leaning on the wind I, photograph
Leaning on the wind II, photograph
Life blood III - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Life blood IV - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Life blood V - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Life blood VI - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Life blood VII - Monserrate Park,
Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Sunny side, photograph
More golden silence, photograph
Receiving the light, photograph
Genesis of Dream I, photograph
The strength of dreams I - Monserrate
Park, Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Immortal - Born 300 years ago,
Monserrate Park, Sintra, Portugal, photograph
Preparing the earth, photograph
The Fire of Prometheus I,
photograph
The Fire of Prometheus II,
photograph
Seeding in the water I, photograph
Seeding in the water II, photograph
Seeding in the water III, photograph
The earth is prepared, photograph
Splendorou
Tree of Dreams in the rainbow I -
Drawing and photograph
Tree of Dreams in the night by the sea -
photograph
Tree of Dreams in the rainbow sands by
the sea - Drawing by Suyarts / São Ludovino.
Tree of Dreams in the rainbow III -
Drawing and photograph
Tree of Dreams in the summer rain,
drawing by Suyarts / São Ludovino.
Tree of Dreams - Spring in the Desert,
drawing by Suyarts / São Ludovino.
