The Greeting

At first, he didn’t know how to cope with the heartbreak.

On the morning train and at the office, people were engaged in their work as usual – apparently, everything was as it should be. But they didn’t know of his situation, and he made no mention of the pain and emptiness that were washing over him like ocean waves. His co-workers didn’t read what was written in his eyes – that he was weeping sorely inside.

He wasn’t sleeping well at all. To be truthful, he dreaded night-time, when he would lie awake waiting for the first light of morning to come. The weeks went past. No relief.

Then an idea came to him. He would pass the nights by painting a mural on his bedroom wall – a scene of trees and grass, a winding path, and a beautiful female figure turning towards the sunlight, towards something that was mysterious but joyful.

He had been good at art at school, and he knew everything he would need in the way of paint and brushes. He began with sketches on big sheets of paper – he wanted to use the whole wall, from floor to ceiling.

He worked on the mural for seven weeks, especially in the small hours of the morning. As it neared completion, he could see how attractive the painting was – and that there was breadth and depth to it. Around the same time his office manager said to him that he looked exhausted. He didn’t ask him to explain the tiredness, though.

On the last night, he put the finishing touches to the mural before throwing the bedroom curtains open to let the first rays of the sun come in from the east. The sky was clear with just the last few fading stars against the blue heavens. 

He sat down on the bed. His head nodded forward but he didn’t want to close his eyes - this was no time to have a nap.

When the room was flooded with light, he stood before the mural, feeling an unexpected and extraordinary sense of warmth. 

Suddenly, it occurred to him that someone was patiently waiting to greet him.

With strength and commitment he took a step forward into the radiant landscape of the painting.

The idea for this story was kindled by the oil painting The Greeting (1943) by Cecil Collins.

Cecil Collins, The Greeting, 1943, oil on canvas

http://www.artnet.com/artists/cecil-collins/the-greeting-7W9b89jSz3bVF5Zz033J8A2