In between sleep and wake, there is a wooded alley often not taken, and I notice. Brushing aside the branches, I see a ladder in the middle of a meadow. I go to this ladder and it seems to be freestanding, and yet solid in its form; trying to kick it down with great effort won't budge it a bit. Looking back, curiosity takes place of the entrance and the trees become further away. "I'll just climb, it's all that's left" and I climb. Waves ripple across the grass and everything around vaporizes, and I'm left suspended in nothingness. What is left, where to go, I don't know.

Silently, the white clouds separate and I orient myself at the bottom of a mountain in some valley. "Some strange place this is". The air smells of rain and there is something torched at the top of the mountain, I can't make it out what it is. As I walk up the ridge, the thunder crashes, the sky flashing every so often, and the flowers sway across the grass as if they're talking.

I arrive at what seems to be two ponds diverged in a yellow wood. The water shines like I'm staring into the sun, and when I touch it, I feel a shiver run across my arm. My reflection fades into the depths and I look across this oasis. Some sort of fire unlike anything I've seen slowly emerges from the water and a warmth emerges as well inside me; a duality resulting from no causation from my perspective, and no effect in its nature, only now. And so I step forward to greet it like I'm meeting someone I used to love for many years. It touches my hand, and we disappear.

This artwork is in 4 editions: gold, spirit world, forest, and purgatory.

2022 1/1