He walked the narrow road up the hill. It was dark, but the moon was coming up on the other side of the valley. His feet were heavy, his eyesight blurry. She was gone. She had taken her belongings and left. No explanation. Not even a goodbye. Slowly he had realised she would not come back.
He could hear an owl calling. A small one, a beautiful whistling sound. He followed it. There was an old house on the top of the hill. He had seen it from town, but never been up there. He heard the call again. It came from the house.
The door was open, fallen off its hinges.
Hoooh!
The old stairs was creaking threatening as he walked. A ladder lead up to the attic.
The room was small, partly lit up by the moonlight. The bird was sitting in the window. Its body facing out towards the road he had come up from. Its face was turned towards him, watching him. Judging him.
For a while they stood there. watching each other.
Hoooooh!
The owl flew away, out of the window. Over the treetops, the houses. Disappeared in a distance.
He knew now, why she had left him, but now it was too late.
He had taken her freedom away.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owl_of_Athena
There is a great depth of truth in this. Relationships easily fall apart when one or the other becomes stifled.
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Thank you. Freedom is such an important thing to have, yet sometimes so difficult to give others. One have to keep trying, though, both to give and to achieve.
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Nice!
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Thanks!
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Wonderfully poignant, we all value our freedom!
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Thanks! We do 🙂
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Love this, the owls eyes draw me in 😮
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Thanks a lot, Blu 🙂
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Still at it I see. Great! Always a treat to read and observe your art.
He’d ‘tried’ to take her freedom, yes? Caged her? Contained her? But, in the end her freedom, like the owl’s, was not there for the taking. It was his attempts which pushed her away.
We choose our own prisons, and our own keys.
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Thanks Anony! Maybe he was just jealous and obsessive. A mental cage can be imprisoning enough sometimes.
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Excellent!
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🙂 🙂
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Excellent story.
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Thank you.
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OHHHH! I LOVE this! It reminds me of the stories of the Selkies in Irish folklore. God. Have You ever seen the movie ‘The Secret of Roan Inish’? It’s brilliant. Also….and I’m a broken record here…but love your art. Your owl is wonderful. Cheers and Thanks! 🙂
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Thanks a lot, Forresting! No, haven’t seen it, I’ll look it up. Happy you liked the Owl 🙂
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Beautiful and poignant.
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🙂 🙂
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nice post !
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Thank you 🙂
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Sad and beautiful. x
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