The world is still.
Serenity reigns.
Although I walk with a group, deep inside I stand alone.
Time moves, the future is nigh.

The still pool of life is disturbed by a pebble.
It falls, and the ripples engulf me.
The ripples of change and uncertainty.
They bend, they bounce, and they absorb me.

The fabric of time binds me within it.
I breathe in deeply, and my heart pounds with excitement.
I become a part of something deeper.
Something extravagant.

I continue to walk.
Glimpses of the future pass by my eyelids.
I do not blink.
I watch.

I see love, in all of its beautiful joy.
I see peace, in all of its calm glory.
But I also see pain.
Pain that tears flesh from bone, pain I will have to endure.

But I have hope.
Hope that the love will pull me through
Hope that the peace will help me cope.
But they are not what gives me the greatest comfort.

My greatest comfort is that I do not walk alone.
There will always be someone there to help me stand when I fall.
I smile as I walk through the doorway and feel the ripples fade away. I return to the present.
The world is still.