Suffer (The Journey)

by Tmyers1922@aol.com

Drew began to walk.  Where?  He really didn't know.  What he did know was
that he needed to find his wife.  He was also very tired.  Drew had been
through a whole lot the past few days.  At least that's what he thought
it
was.  His prison clothes didn't look like prison clothes anymore,
tattered
and bloody as they were, more like rags.  For some strange reason, the
Indian
prison guards didn't seem to be after him.  'It's as if I wasn't ever
there',
he thought.  This perplexed him as he staggered onward.  But something
else
perplexed him as well.  Why was all this happening?  He almost forgot the
reason for which he had traveled so far.  And then a thought hit him like
a
thunderbolt.  Was it his faith?  Had his lack of faith for anything been
his
reason for....for the torment he'd been through?

As he stumbled onward pondering this subject, the scenery all around
began to
change.  He hadn't really noticed how everything before was barren. 
Miles
upon miles there had been nothingness.  All of a sudden, as if out of
nowhere, a forest loomed ahead.  He was feeling abit hungry so, in hope
for
food, he walked inside.  

Drew walked for hours on end through the forest with no hope for food in
sight.  He was almost at the brink of despair and no hope when he noticed
a
clearing up ahead.  As he came closer, he noticed that htere was a fire.
 'Maybe someone will ahve some food to spare for me', he thought and came
even closer.  It had been surprisingly dard in the forest before, he
hadn't
noticed so till he came towards the clearing.  At first glance in the
clearing, he didn't see anything except a blazing fire in the middle of
the
circular shaped area.  Then....

(Opening Music)-Drew heard what sounded like tribal drums.  He looked
into
the direction of the sound and out of nowhere was a person who was
playing
the drums.  He couldn't tell if it was male or female because it was
wearing
a hooded cloak covered with pictures of roses of all colors.  A strange
sight
indeed!  But, just as he heard that sound, another sound occured, a blend
of
two sounds.  He looked around again and found two others.  Both were also
wearing hooded cloaks.  One was playing a bass guitar and their cloak was
the
color of blue velvet.  The other was playing a guitar as well and had a
cloak
covered full of stars.  The music was in rhythm with the beat the drummer
was
playing.  It was almost spellbounding!  As Drew became entranced by the
sound, one other soon appeared.  This other was a bit taller than the
others
and was wearing a cloak which was half black, half white.  The hood of
the
cloak had little bells hanging off which reminded him of the hat a jester
would wear.  On the center of it's cloak was a picture of what he knew to
be
the famous Sacred Heart.

As it was, he became transfixed by the music and this last hooded person.
 It
was as if he was forced to listen to what this person was about to say. 
He
then spoke...

"All that you suffer is all that you are"-The Hooded One, as will call
him,
sang this to Drew and pointed at him as if speaking to him personally. 
Then,
suddenly, a vision became alight all around them willed by the Hooded One
presumably.

"All that you smother is all that you are"-In that vision showed the tomb
that Drew built for himself earlier.  Drew was aghast!  He had almost
surprisingly forgotten that!
Drew was about to speak when the Hooded One cut him off.  The vision
disappeared.

"And your saying your seeing, your saying who you are"-As if he knew what
Drew was about to say, he said it for him.  The Hooded One gave him what
seemed to be advice....

"What takes meaning is cleaning the meaning of who you are"-As he told
Drew
this, he disappeared into thin air!  But his voice was still there.

"All may say"-The Hooded One's voice pierced the air but Drew did not
seem
surprised.  He was lost inside himself.  He was sitting next to the fire
looking off as in a daze.  He was suddenly beginning to know himself.

"I will dream"-The Hooded One was still gone, but both sang this part
together as if they were one.  Drew was looking more dazed but ever more
certain by the second.  What he just sang, he knew, was his life's
excuse.

"All may say"-The Hooded One sang again as he flashed back into being
answering Drew's acknowledgement.

"All of your struggles beneath your disguise drink from the reasons that
hold
you alive."-As Drew listened while the Hooded One explained, he began to
understand what was wrong with himself.  However, Drew thought to himself
why
these people were disguising themselves under hoods.

"'Til we're safe from the wounds of desire and pain"-Suddenly two boxes
appeared between the Hooded One and Drew.  One had a picture of the
Sacred
Heart and was white in color.  The other had a picture of something he
seemed
to remember in the back of his mind.  A god of some sort was on that one
and
it's color was black.  It was violently trembling.

"You must rise from the mounds of desire, and change."-The black box
trembled
so much until it exploded while the white box opened up slowly and let
out a
strange translucent light.  It made Drew's eyes extremely tired to look
at it
and the light began to lull him asleep.  As he was about to sleep, he
thought
of what the Hooded One had told him.  It made perfect sense.  And yet,
there
was a small, tiny part in his mind that thought otherwise and the Hooded
one
reflected that thought by singing...

"Too late to discover piece of mind, too late to recover me"
-Drew slept.


suffer part 2

(middle of the song music)
Drew found himself walking again in the forest by himself.  The only
exception was he could still hear music playing.  Maybe it was in his
head he
thought.  Maybe he just imagined that whole scene.  Then he heard...

"All you see and all you breath and all you cease to be."
It was the Hooded One again except he wasn't visible.  Drew then walked
by a
tree to see someone carve a crucifix in it.  It then disappeared just as
quick as he saw it.  He heard the voice again sing...

"Taken down your only Son and what he means to me."
"Your dream will be to dream with me."
Now the Hooded One seemed to be calling him.  Beckoning Drew to him.  Was
this a dream after all?  This did not seem like the way the Hooded One
would
be.  However, he followed what seemed to be the way to him as if he knew
which way to go.

(More music)
Drew walked around every tree and stream for many miles.  He then heard a
flute way off in the distance, so he followed that sound.  And all the
time
he walked, he kept thinking about The Way of the Hooded One.  'Is he the
one
I've been looking for all this time?  Is he the faith I've been missing
my
whole life?'  Just as he thought that, he came to a riverbank.  There
along
the riverbank was a boat.  The Hooded One and the Others were on it.  A
sign
next to the boat was pointing down the river and read "TO THE WAY". 
Maybe
this was it!  This was what Drew was looking for!  'I've found my
faith!', he
thought.  

"Will you wait?"  Drew yelled to him

"Yes I will, I will wait for you" The Hooded One yelled back

"Will you wait?"  Drew yelled again for reassurance

"Yes I will, I will wait for you."  The Hooded One yelled again.  But a
peculiar smile came upon his face.  Drew couldn't notice though from the
hood.  Then, the anchor was lifted and They left Drew on the riverbank.

"To cleanse your life, takes more than time."
"Take what you want, take all of it."
The Hooded One left those words for Drew to ponder.  Drew couldn't
believe
it.  He dropped to his knees and started to cry.  Then the Hooded One's
words, actually his own, rang in his head...

"Too late to discover piece of mind, to late to recover..."
Drew continued to cry there along the ground upon the riverbank, all
alone.
 But he understood...