The Fool and The Goddess

There once was a man, a broken man, lost in the sea of life and love. He undertook a journey of discovery and sought enlightenment. He traveled East believing he would find some answers there. He, like Buddha, sat under trees waiting for answers, but they never came.

He saw the sick and the frail, knowing that one day soon he too would be nothing more than dust and still with no assurance of what lay beyond the abyss.
One road took him to India, still seeing human decay, still no philosophy to comfort him

Then one night, he saw the goddess.
The Physical manifestation of perfection.
Her face was narrow and fine. Slanted almond eyes and small perfectly framed mouth.

The man felt both elated and ill. Her beauty inspired the divine but also the carnal.
The war which raged inside him such that his body struggled to know how to respond.

Surely she was a goddess,
Surely she knew all things, because she asked no questions
Surely she had done all things, because she made no movements
Surely she needed nothing, for she said nothing.
She would never age like those around her. She was made to last.

The man pledged his life to the goddess, what small matter that she was made of stone.
Maidens came and went but none compared to the goddess.
The man became blind to the comforts of a soft embrace of flesh and bone.
But the weather changed as winter was approaching and the winds and rains came as they
often do with fury and without warning.

The man a times felt frightened by lightening and the winds and the ghosts of the past and future. At times he reached a hand out to the goddess... "Just one embrace" he begged. "Just one soft, tender embrace and I shall be fueled with inspiration, I shall weather these storms and build the castle worthy of you"

But the goddess stared on to the heavens.

After five years, the man who had forgotten much of himself heard the march of soldier feet.
"Move, scoundrel" Said the general, kicking the man.
We have been given orders to move this statue to the emperor’s garden court.
He has told us that we may each have one of his concubines in exchange for the transport of the statue. My men are eager - move or we will gladly slit your throat. The statue moves tonight!

The man lay on the ground in pain as the men stronger and seemingly better than himself worked together to raise from the ground and onto the giant cart that would transport her to where she belonged - the royal court. As she moved away - no sign or pity or emotion showed, perhaps for the briefest of moments but the sun was setting and the shadows played tricks at these times.

So now there was an Emperor about to learn what the man had learnt.