newest issue!
home
about nar
our mission
back issues
the staff
submissions
contacting us
 
A Failed Attempt

by Charles Erwin Winchester III

Dear ******,
I think everyone wanders around life in little colored glass bubbles, bubbles which offer a rainbow of ideas and perceptions on the inside, but which show what else there is very poorly. People don't want to leave this bubble, because it's they know what's inside. They know all the little nuances, the way the light makes the colors swirl, but they're afraid to go outside. They don't know what the light looks like on a single rose, how is refracts through falling rain, what it illuminates from the face of an angel.

I've done a great job of hiding in my bubble. I've learned so much about it, I can recreate it in my sleep, working with nothing. But to live in that bubble is to live forever alone, not letting anyone deep enough inside to really know me. The couple of times I've tried to go without it, I've been hurt. But those times I've also seen real beauty, beauty that I know exists elsewhere, places that I've never dared to look before.

Since I've known you, I've thought about leaving my bubble again, and tried to drop it, but every time I do, something seems (to me at least) to go wrong. I've tried to be very careful, not rush things with us, to go as slowly as you seemed to want me to. But, because of that, I wound up not knowing what you wanted, and confusing myself, and when I told you that, you were hurt; that was the last thing I wanted. I've also forgotten what I did want. Somehow, in the craziness of trying to see you, I'd left behind what I wanted. Briefly, I want a chance. I want the chance to find peace in your eyes. I want the chance to hold your hand in the park, to stroll under a peaceful moon, to share a quiet meal and a chance to laugh. I want the chance to leave my bubble again, and to let you inside. I want to laugh with you and cry with you and look at the stars with you. I want to know what you think, and for you to know what I think. I want to share your feelings and fears and regrets and joys, and for you to share mine.

I don't know what the future holds; it always seems to have some idea of what it wants, and we always seem to be caught in it, but sometimes we can control it, too. And that's what I really want; I want some control. I want to hold this chance before it goes away. I want the chance to love you. Please give me that chance.

Always,
          Entirely,
          ********

-2/13/98
Charles Erwin Winchester III



Back to Heaven





North Avenue Review
A Georgia Tech Publication.