It’s Been 84 Years…

Somewhere in the world is a Forest so dense that the midday Sun will pass as evening and the strongest wind gust will get lost between branches. This Forest is home of strange creatures. Some of them are little and fast, moving quick and quietly between the roots and canopies of the trees. Others, bigger, wiser and as antique as the first Pine trees, walk through the clearings as if the land they step on belong to them and no one else. Sometimes, if the light is right and the shadows are friendly, the rare beings that live hidden in bushes and on the rivers’ bottoms show themselves. And in the darkest nights, when not even the Moon’s light can trespass the thick layer of leaves, bright restless eyes move along the low branches observing the endless activity of insects and small animals.

But it’s in the Spring, when life starts coming back to the frozen soil and hardened vegetation the Winter left behind, that the most amazing of the creatures walk again in the Forest. Her wanderings bring a sudden silence, the kind of silence that only the most deep respect and awe can cause. Her journey through the land is slow and patient, She uses Her time to restore and improve everything that Nature alone was unable to. Her form is changing constantly. Long, branched horns. Sharp talons. Oval, bright scales. Big, clawed paws. Large wings. An entire spectrum of colors. For weeks She follows Her way, never stopping and never passing the same place twice.

When the work finally seems to come to an end, the search for food and, later, for a new rest spot initiates. A hole in a trunk, a little and well hidden cave or a lake's bottom. Anywhere’s fine, it doesn’t have to be spacious, to be calm and quiet is enough. This process begins in the last warm, lazy days of Summer and finishes when the first Autumn colors starts to shily show themselves on leaves and animals’ coats. As soon as She finds shelter the sleep will come, fast and delicate, to stay with Her until the snow melts and the grass starts growing again.

While sleeping, dreams pass behind Her eyes. In them it’s possible to smell, feel and see things that ceased existing a long time ago. But it’s also possible to find sensations and emotions that She never felt when awake, even though She longs for them.