“Morning”

“It was pre-dawn when we exited the dorm. The two Labradors, one perfectly black and the other perfectly white, ran ahead of us excitedly. The heavy slumber of night was lifting off the campus, but the neo-Gothic buildings remained dark piles, whose contours looked like a very nervous ink graph. Silence, pristine and palpable, pervaded the space through which we moved. No one else was about. It seemed to me that Artus and I were adventurers, who had just discovered this world of mind-boggling beauty, steeped in wonder. We were the first human beings to set foot in this paradise of perfect peace. What innocence I felt! The night had bathed my soul and washed it free of taint, rinsed it of memory, hurt, and sorrow. There was only this moment, this all-encompassing now, this newly discovered world, this awe-filled consciousness spilling out from me to enwrap it in loving arms.”