How can we express ourselves to the ones we love in just a short time? How can we express the love we feel, if we know, that our time to live, counts?
I was reading a book one night written by Paulo Coelho. The book was entitled, LIKE THE FLOWING RIVER. It was all about his life’s experience and my heart was really touched by all words he wrote on the book. I thought that the book was dedicated to me, for everything that was written there, made reflections on me too. Every pages and chapters affected me.
As I turned the pages, I was able to read this cute and amazing love story. Maybe this story could be entitled as THE TALE OF OASIS, but on the chapter of the book, it was entitled as THE CLOUD AND THE SAND DUNE. I just want to share this story that made me smile on the time that I have no one to talk to.
Here’s how the story started;
“As everyone knows, the life of a cloud is very busy and very short,” writes Bruno Ferrero. And here’s a related story.
A young cloud was born in the midst of a great storm over the Midditerranean Sea, buthe did not even have time to grow up there, for a strong wind pushed all the clouds over towards Africa.
As soon as the clouds reached the continent, the climate changed. A bright sun was shining in the sky and, stretched out beneath them, lay the golden sands of the Sahara. Since it almost never rains in the desert, the wind continued pushing the clouds towards the forests in the south.
Meanwhile, as happens with young humans too, the young cloud decided to leave his parents and his older friends in order to discover the world.
“What are you doing?” cried the wind. “The desert’s the same all over. Rejoin the other clouds, and we’ll go to Central Africa where there are amazing mountains and trees.”
But the young cloud, a natural rebel, refused to obey and, gradually, he dropped down until he found a gentle, generous breeze that allowed him to hover over the golden sands. After much toing and froing, he noticed that one of the dunes was smiling at him.
He saw that the dune was also young, newly formed by the wind that had just passed over. He fell in love with her golden hair right there and then.
“Good morning.” he said. “What’s life like down there?”
“I have the company of the other dunes, of the sun and the wind, and of the caravans that occasionally pass through here. Sometimes it’s really hot, but it’s still bearable. What’s life up there?”
“We have the sun and wind too, but the good things is that I can travel across the sky and see more things.”
“For me,” said the dune, “life is short. When the wind returns from the forests, I will disappear.”
“And does that make you sad?”
“It makes me feel that I have no purpose in life.”
“I feel the same. As soon as another wind comes along, I’ll go south and be transformed into rain, but that is my destiny.”
The dune hesitated for a moment, then said;
“Did you know that here in the desert, we call the rain paradise?”
“I had no idea. I could ever be that important,” said the cloud proudly.
“I’ve heard other older dunes tell stories about the rain. They say that, after the rain, we are all covered with grass and flowers. But I’ll never experience that, because in the desert it rains so rarely.”
It was the cloud’s turn to hesitate now. Then he smiled broadly and said;
“If you like, I could rain on you now. I know I’ve only just got here, but I love you, and I’d like to stay here forever.”
“When I first saw you up in the sky, I fell in love with you too,” said the dune. “But if you transform your lovely white hair into rain, you will die.”
“Love never dies,” said the dune. “It is transformed, and, besides, I want to show you what paradise is like.”
And he began to caress the dune with little drops of rain, so that they could stay together for longer, until a rainbow appeared.
The following day, the little dune was covered in flowers. Other clouds that passed over, heading the Africa, thought that it must be part of the forest they were looking for and scattered more rain. Twenty years later, the dune had been transformed into an oasis that refreshed travellers with the shade of the trees.
And all because, one day, a cloud fell in love, and was not afraid to give his life for that love.
