This Was Once A Road
This was once a road. Not days ago, but years. Maybe decades. Humans can take the land but the land can also take back what it wishes. The land took back what lays beyond an old metal gate with a “Keep Out” sign. But I will not keep out. The road belonged to the county once, but they grew tired of maintaining it or perhaps forgot about it all together. The land beyond the gate and the story are all that remain.
Once, before it was in ruins, there was smooth tar and stone road that could be driven upon. Perhaps by carriages full of travelers coming from the train station to their camps. Or perhaps by trucks rumbling up and down the mountain with lumber. No matter, the cars and people of past are gone now. Now the tangle of vines and fallen redwood giants make it difficult to even traverse by foot. These giants have been here so long they have crumbled back into the earth as well, covered in black decay and tendrils of new green life. Defiant trees have even grown right in the middle. The middle finger of tree humor, I suppose.
A small waterfall splits through the middle, passing through the fallen earth exposed by the ripped asphalt. The water rushes through the crag, pulling caked soil and asphalt with it. The frame of a car with thin tires lays at the bottom of this ravine. Perhaps the road opened up whilst the car was still on it, taking its passengers tumbling down with it. Perhaps someone pushed their car down after the road was retired, watching and cheering as their car tumbled into the ravine. Perhaps the same people who left the now rusted tin cans peppered with bullet holes. No matter, for those people not here now. It’s just the road and I, save for the distant birds and the rustling of the creatures in the underbrush. And the longer I study what lingers, the more questions I find buried beneath.
When does a road become a path?
When does a path become our mark?
When we abandon our mark, how long does it take to disappear?
When it disappears, where does it go?
When an abandoned road becomes our path, where will it lead?
