I am thirsty, too. Let us look for a well . . . I made a gesture of weariness. It is absurd to look for a well, at random, in the immensity of the desert. But nevertheless we started walking. When we had trudged along for several hours, in silence, the darkness fell, and the stars began to come out. Thirst had made me a little feverish, and I looked at them as if I were in a dream. The little princes last words came reeling back into my memory: Then you are thirsty, too? I demanded. But he did not reply to my question. He merely said to me: Water may also be good for the heart . . . I did not understand this answer, but I said nothing. I knew very well that it was impossible to cross-examine him. He was tired. He sat down. I sat down beside him. And, after a little silence, he spoke again: The stars are beautiful, because of a flower that cannot be seen. I replied, Yes, that is so. And, without saying anything more, I looked across the ridges of sand that were stretched out before us in the moonlight. The desert is beautiful, the little prince added. And that was true. I have always loved the desert. One sits down on a desert sand dune, sees nothing, hears nothing. Yet through the silence something throbs, and gleams . . . What makes the desert beautiful, said the little prince, is that somewhere it hides a well . . . I was astonished by a sudden understanding of that mysterious radiation of the sands. When I was a little boy I lived in an old house, and legend told us that a treasure was buried there. To be sure, no one had ever known how to find it; perhaps no one had ever even looked for it. But it cast an enchantment over that house. My home was hiding a secret in the depths of its heart . . . Yes, I said to the little prince. The house, the stars, the desert--what gives them their beauty is something that is invisible! I am glad, he said, that you agree with my fox. The Little Prince, Antoine de Sainte-Exupery I look up at the stars at night and amidst all that light wandering and flowing through a vast darkness I think of all those I cannot see and yet who are dear and precious to me. What makes the stars beautiful is that somewhere, people I love, yet cannot see, nor hug, nor even speak to may look up and share the sky with me. Good night all.
Posted on: Mon, 17 Nov 2014 23:21:14 +0000
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