This is Goodbye

By: Ashley Johnson

Dear diary,

I am with my mother now. I am with my mother again. It feels so natural, so refreshing, so beautiful. She came to me yesterday (I am home).

My time as a mortal was over. It was time to return to my roots, to my mother earth. And so that is what I did.

Yesterday Rama, my father, and everyone of any importance surrounded me. I cannot say that I was angry because I could never truly be angry with my Rama. As I was standing there encircled, my purity being questioned once again, I desperately wanted to clear my name once and for all.

I knew that Rama knew the truth. I knew that anyone who truly knew and loved me knew the truth. But it wasn't enough. I needed to put the rumors to rest (Oh, Rama). I needed to rest myself. Too long--I had been there too long and it was time for me to return home.

In the center of this attention, I proclaimed that if my words were true, the earth, my mother, would come at that moment and take me with her.

And she came. I always knew that she would come, but I did not remember or even realize what I would feel when she did.

I cannot say that I was angry for it was not anger that I felt towards humanity at that moment. But what I did feel was relief…and love when my mother rose from the ground.

She was so beautiful, almost too beautiful to touch (Was she real?). And when she reached for me all I wanted to do was return with her to our home--our earth, my mother. And so I took her hand, her warm and loving hand, and curled upon her lap as if I were a small child.

I remember glancing back once more to Rama.

And I remember his eyes.

Oh, those eyes that I had fallen in love with so long ago. The eyes that went on for miles and miles, the eyes that I could not leave, the eyes that seemed to tell a story...our story. And I knew that his goodbye rested within his eyes.

And so I left my Rama (Goodbye).

I left my father. I left all of humanity on my mother's lap. Her embrace comforted me and I felt at home once again. I took my last breath on earth and thought of Rama.

Nothing can be wrong with him in my thoughts.

Author's Note:
I chose to use this story as my last addition to my storybook because I think it was my favorite scene in the Ramayana. I remember I felt so angry for Sita at this point. I remember I was so angry at Rama for listening to the rumors and then banishing her. So I think that when her mother, the earth, came up to take her home I felt some sort of justification or relief as if Sita had gotten the last word. To me, I couldn't think of a better ending for Sita than this. I know that Sita probably did not feel the anger that I felt though. She seemed too pure at heart to be angry with her only love, Rama. I tried to incorporate this idea in my story. I also thought that this story would be the perfect way to end a diary--the separation of the two lovers on earth, a perfect ending.

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