The Urban Oasis

    S omewhere along the crooked line, you'll come across a vast oasis draped symmetrically amidst the concrete jungle.  the buzzing of cell phones like digital fairies darting between the formidable landscape.  The howling of taxi horns can be heard just beyond the boundaries of its timeless space.  Its beauty and design so eloquently part of its nature.

As you look around, high and low...you catch the finest nuances of what it means to be alive.  Towering mammoths and the smell of sizzling hot dogs envelop your senses.  You close your eyes.  You feel the warm grass; generations of pilgrims who have traversed  the trials of time and space just to step foot on the earth you now lay claim as your own.  

You see the sparkling of turbid water, and the racing of toy sailboats.  You walk through the
temporal landscape, scattering flocks of pigeons and cracking tiny smiles at the playful meandering of children.  you feel the warm sun on your face, massaging your shoulders as you come to the winding trails.  You see a classic 19th century light post, and for a moment, you feel like channeling the essence of Gene Kelley, singing in the rain.

One shining truth keeps smacking you in the cerebral cortex.  One feeling, devoid of painstaking  analytical deduction.  You are happy to be alive, and happy to be right here, right now.

   you of course, are in Central Park, and you wish you could come visit more often.  You wish you could play soccer on the great lawn with all the rambunctious children.  You wish you could get married to your sweetheart while the adoring strangers admire your wedding photography shoot from a cool distance.  You imagine yourself striving for excellence, and finding the beauty in simple things.  

It's at this point when You suddenly realize, that you don't have wish or imagine.  At this point, you say to yourself, "I' DON'T HAVE TO FEEL INSIGNIFICANT ANYMORE!"

At this point, you put left foot in front of right, and you head towards the great unknown experience.  You decide to be an explorer, an ambassador of your tribe.

You decide to make the most of your experience, and to forget regret and fear.  Anxiety is now just a jumbled word comprised of meaningless consonants and vowels.  You are Archimedes in the bathtub.  You are Christopher Columbus, you are a man on the moon.  You are a rolling milestone.  You are as Alive as you've ever been.

As you come to the bends and strange angles of this urban oasis, you meet people from all boundaries, dissolved and coalesced.  You exchange manly nods and gracious smiles with various joggers and exercise enthusiasts.  You observe golden moments that epitomize the human endeavor, in every direction.  To the left, a wise old lady bundled in all her Sunday best, zipping up the jacket of her one and only grandson.  The darting eyes of the young boy, playfully digesting the scene around him, unconscious of the trouble granny seems to be having with the zipper getting caught in the zip-lip.

To the right, a pee-wee baseball game, goes into extra innings, as the exhausted outfielders kick at the ground, tightening and beating their mitts in anticipation.

you turn the bend, and you come up a slight hill, layered in concrete bridge, dabbled with cobblestone and draped with elegant black side railing.  Suddenly, the clanking of horseshoes on cool cobblestone gets your attention.  You turn , and see lovers entranced in each others eyes, while listlessly riding a classical horse and carriage.  You come to the great fountain.  Perched atop the promenade overlooking the fountain, you lean against the elegant black side rails and begin to gaze outward at the frenzy of people.  You pick out a man blowing huge bubbles, and little kids dancing around them, trying their hardest to resist the urge to pop them.  You decide to walk down the breathtaking Gothic staircase.  You suddenly have a feeling like you've seen this place before, in movies or perhaps in another lifetime.  You look around and you take it all in.  Suddenly you get another feeling.  Another profound truth.  Your really hungry, and its time to consume something other than the ravenous beauty of the moment. 


    You walk back down the winding paths, and you catch glimpses of the Metropolitan Museum of Art from the back.  You daydream for a minute about catching the latest ancient Egyptian exhibit or admiring renaissance and baroque masterpieces, and you move on.  You glance down at a NYC attractions catalogue that you happen to conveniently have, and remember that you circled The Hayden Planetarium, which sits humbly on the northwest end of the park.  If you have enough time later, you'll catch the stargazers special at around 9.

  As you have a minute or two to relax your senses, and retreat back into your imagination, you begin to see microcosms and metaphors for your life popping up around you everywhere.  Archetypes of divine beauty, and discipline are all around you in the duality of nature and human design.  You don't necessarily become consciously aware of these symbols, but their presence has a calming effect.  You sense yourself an alien traveler trekking vivid concrete, as much you sense yourself just another visitor in a long line of people longing to feel whole again.  Nobody else is experiencing what you are, in this moment, right now.  And for a time, you completely forget about money, and your job.  You completely forget about want and desire, and shiny objects.  You completely forget who you were trying so hard to be, or trying so hard to hide.  And for a time, you are lucidly dreaming of heaven on earth, defying your mortal insignificance, and affirming your connection with the great mystery.

Ahhh yes, and as you crack your knuckles and ponder a tasty meal, you arrive upon the circus side show of Columbus circle.  Balloons are escaping their child minion masters and wanting to kiss the atmosphere.  Young urban professionals are congregating en masse to explore some garden variety Tai-Chi classes.  Homeless crackheads are sifting garbage pails and petty thieves are sifting shirt pockets.  Business men and women are lining the sidewalks to grab a quick pick-me-up.  Musicians and Poets are honing their craft in front of a live and amused audience.  Break dancers from Brooklyn are defying the laws of nature and human anatomy.

The break dancers from Brooklyn seem to be grabbing your attention and keeping it, while the young urban yuppies are dropping like flies to the flame of the almighty Starbucks.  You glance around, and suddenly, all the former buzzing and humming of horns and loud machines is right in your face, but it seems muted in the presence of such unrelenting beauty not 50 feet away.

Ohhp! there' a quaint little hot dog stand! So you grab a bite, and a soda.  Feeling like a pigeon hopped up on pig meat and caffeine, you fly back around Columbus circle, and you head back into the urban oasis...

Finding a garbage pail and a second to wipe your hands, you recollect your thoughts, and reestablish your footing in the plot of life.  You decide to sit down on a park bench, and watch the wise old men stubbornly insist on 2 out 3 in a one-sided game of chess.  You cant help but try and establish your own set of moves and strategies.  Suddenly, a gorgeous woman with a sleek body and small ear bud headphones jogs by in sweat induced trance.  It takes your mind off empire building for more than a small second.  Feeling like a kid, you decide to do some exercising yourself.

You suddenly remember than in the midst of the break dancing Brooklynites and congregating yuppies, you saw a bike rental, for just 10 bucks an hour.  You've only seen a quarter of the park, and time is of the essence!

So you pay the kind hearted holistic health nut from California and you pick out a stalwart champion.  Being careful not to break the yuppies concentration, or eviscerate the break dancing Brooklynites vibe, you slowly pedal and ring your bell, quietly demanding respect wherever you go.

The pee-wee baseball game is coming to a close.  It seems one of the outfielders got distracted picking right field dandelions, and missed the critical play.  The crowds of audacious seniors and sharp witted chess aficionados seem to be giving way to the amateurs and the fool hearty.  Things are winding down, with the day.  you decide to revisit some of your favorite areas of the park, and discover new ones along the way.  There is still the Central Park Zoo, and the boat rides to experience, before you've had your fill of paradise.  

As you pedal hard up the steep hills and careen carelessly down the cascading streets, the only thing your wondering is why this moment won't last forever.

As you return the bicycle, and head back on your expansive quest, you have the knowledge in your head and the heaviness in your heart.  Whats next?  Who will I run into on the other side of the park?  What movies are being filmed on the famous bridge overlooking the lake?  Who's dancing around in wedding dresses and daring to go the extra mile?  The possibilities here, are endless.  The beauty here, is infinite.  The day here, is in constant dawn.

And with a yawn, on this constant dawn, you decide to take one last lay down on the great lawn.  It is there, you look up at the stars and thank yourself for this experience.  You have love, and you have gratitude.  You have piece of mind, and you have a timeless affinity with great infinity.  A day in the life of a wandering  Central Park wizard.  Your closed your eyes, and you awoke back here at work,  on a blue Monday.  Was that place a dream? Or is this nightmare just an illusion?