BEING IN DISNEY

VIENNA OF PRINCES, PRINCESSES, AND WOUNDED SOLDIERS

The best of times are such.
When an occasional hit of weed and a fine brew brings forth the raw convivial self - Friends babble with intensity, cackle shamelessly and open their hearts to possibilities, fearing no judgment.
The best of times are such.
When princesses shed their vanities, abandoned soldiers forget their sorrows, Intellectuals listen, young men disregard their youth, Aristocrats kiss the earth, and I, a traveler, sit quietly, feeling at home…watching and absorbing every story told, capturing every glance, every smile.
The best of times are such.
Times when we would defensively claim, “I am not myself”,
But know in our hearts that that is indeed our truest selves.

Times when I just sit and wonder,
“Am I in Disney?”



Sebastian
Glances held some mysterious curiosity and smiles secretly slipped through the busy room.

I’m sorry that my hawk eyes kept on staring, but the arrows darted right through the barriers, piercing your supple flesh as well as mine. The pain was irresistible…

And I proceeded with quiet comfort...trying to pull out one arrow at a time, breaking the barriers, finding nothing but wounds that would not heal.



Lemi : The soldier of peace

With shoulders wide as Neptune’s, you stride with such ease.
Your pointed Nordic nose perches awkwardly between your soulful longing eyes.
You laugh sheepishly and drink merrily and somehow I hear the voice of a boy longing.

What is it that you long for soldier? Why does your handsome face beg?
Why behind that boyish grin, your soul cries for a need unknown?

A warm hug?
A lost brother?
Another soul to live for?
Or merely the love of the heart that’s abandoned you?

The longing is palpable.
It’s inescapable.
No te preocupes, It’s universal.

But you smile, you hug generously, you raise your glass and compliment sincerely,
As if life has always been too good to you.
Maybe it has been, in it’s own way.

Oh soldier of peace,
Your demeanor amazes me. For despite this longing that sits on the lap of your wounded soul, you find it in your heart to be sincerely warm, loving, and, yes, seemingly unaffected, like a true soldier of peace.



Kenneth : The man after life’s own heart

Old soul, my dear friend, you are a bundle of contradictions.
Believe me, that is a compliment.

Your heart basks in the city of your affections with its grand palaces and aristocracies but you cannot deny that your soul shall always lay in the hills and valleys of your own past.

You dine and cackle with kings and queens, princes and princesses but find it easy to speak gently to our countrymen who seek your help.

You fill your mind with so much knowledge but know that true wisdom is found in a searching heart.

You live to acquire but know how to give them all up.

You play to the edge
But you know in your soul of souls that you shall one day be answerable to the one who sent you.

You are a bundle of contradictions.

But, My friend, I too have been called a bundle of contradictions. I have embraced that label and ask these questions,

Have they, who judge, enjoyed an unbridled life as much as we have?
Have they learned the lessons we have learned painfully and deeply?
Have they embraced the forgiveness that heaven offers?

In this journey,

Give me a man who claims unfailing righteousness and I will shun him
For he is evil.

Give me a man who admits his struggle and I will follow him after life’s own heart.