Through an open, where no curtain hung — I saw you…
Original DDE™ art: “Many Paths” by: rob kistner © 12/8/25
—-<§>—-
When Elias returned to the valley after forty years, nothing had changed except him. The houses sagged in their same crooked ways, and the river still braided silver ribbons through the pines. But the mountain—his mountain—waited with the stillness of something that had been watching all along.
He stood at its base, breath misting in the cold.
“The granites and schists of my dark and stubborn country,” he said aloud, tasting the old words his father once recited, “have not forgotten me.”
A faint vibration answered, subtle as a heartbeat felt through earth. Elias stepped closer. Memory rose from the ground—his childhood footprints, his mother’s laughter, the echo of a boy’s unbroken hope.
“I thought I was lost,” he whispered, choking back years of tears.
The mountain offered no comfort, only presence.
Yet somehow, that was enough to bring him home.
rob kistner © 12/8/25
This song I consider to be one of the most stunningly beautiful, and yet, most devastatingly sad songs ever written… the depth of Balin’s lyrics and the fragile delicacy of the performance are masterful!! …and the Rickie Lee Jones performance below will break your heart, if it is not already broken…
