Solithar’s – Hidden Realm

I wonder how many know that there is a hidden realm, not far away, so fair and true… Fair, for at all times it is both enchanting, generous and also trying; and true, for no lies breed there, only living beings. This realm has been assailed for eons, yet has not fallen. Man has assailed it and yet it has not fallen… Even marred, under siege, it stands fast and welcoming to the travellers or even the exiles of the world…

I’m heading there now. Depending on your place, it can be a step away, a few or somewhat of a journey. But it is always somewhere nearer than you imagine. Today, I pass by some villages and a town to get to a corner of it that I have spotted furtively at a time, from afar. In me, the clashes of people, machines and uncouth noises, fade even before I reach this realm’s living borders.

There are no conflicts here. You may still come at any time, to find peace and repose from the conflicts, from the wars of the worlds outside. The only conflicts are those ported by men.

I am here. I have arrived. The scent of the waters, alive with unnumbered beings large and small, hails my eager stride beyond its borders, towards its hidden mysteries. The very clouds and the sky arch across this realm, in a flawless harmony of countless hues. I breathe the living air and the scents with a deep breath.

For you shall be tried here only against your own ambitions. Otherwise, be it sunshine and blue sky, be it rain clouds and fog or snow, every moment is a joy.

I move my sight along the water and the greens, and I embrace this realm embracing me. My soul is at rest. I close my eyes for a moment, and listen to the subtle notes of the wind around me. It touches me. It brings on its wings the voices of many wonderful creatures, small and large. This ever shifting, ever renewing symphony cleanses me of the asphalt shadows and the soot of the world I’ve left behind… I hear small splashes – the little fish tumble in the air for a moment, cautiously returning to their unfathomed deeps. Rushes fly by, in a hurry… grasshoppers… damsel flies have gathered close by – I hear their delicate wings.

Opening my eyes. I take another deep breath and I smile. I say a heartfelt “hello” to everything and everybody around me (including a water loving grass snake) and watch the water’s ripples.

There is healing here; for soothing comes with every ripple of this realm’s waters and with every little gust of wind; and with the teeming of life.

There are many damsel flies on my right, just two feet away. The little snake has gone away. There are beautiful wild flowers to my left. The earth is enjoying moistness after lacking rain for a while. And the rain shows it passed this way, in the colour of the water. Small fish are splashing here and there – are they playing hide and seek with the sun behind the passing clouds?!… Birds quickly cross in flight the openings between the willows.

How enchanting the perpetual and mesmerizing dance of the natural elements and the innumerable wonderful creatures surrounding you can be.

I take my simple angling tackle and cast my baited line among the ripples. The clouds are travelling above (they have an errand a way further). I perceive shy nibbling on the bait. Somebody, down there, on the bottom beneath the creases, ponders if a response to my “hello” is in order. They are taking their time. And I take mine. I sit and watch the line and the happenings around me; remove a twig caught in my line; rebait. The pheasants started suddenly in the thickets nearby. A few passing drops of rain came down to dot my straw hat.

This unimagined beauty, woven in a tapestry of the primordial and later ages, which covers all lands, the living waters and the sky… leaves me breathless.

Two beautiful kingfishers flew by…

After a few tantalizing bites, the first of the fish has decided to grace this angler’s day by abruptly taking the bait.

“Well, hello, you amazing swimming jewel! It is a joy to see you! Would you endure a picture for me, so I can tell my tale of you to others of my kind?… Thank you! Go on, swim back home! See you some other happy day!”

The wonderfully coloured gudgeon swam back beneath the ripples – a bit puzzled perhaps at the happenstance meeting with a joyous bearded angler covered by a straw hat. Other splendidly spotted or shiny silvered beauties came to salute me – each and every one of them a joy and a smile! But I shall not reveal them all, for now. For I count these as blessings. All these are blessings. This blessed realm, which still stands the wars of men and the scars of time.

The evening came, at unawares, while I was musing and wondering at the colours, notes and living jewels. The two kingfishers returned, and passed me by again. It is time for me to pack and say farewell to this Blessed Realm of Angling for now. “Thank you, all! And fare thee well!”

Writing & Images – Solithar Summer 2023