A dark fog surrounds me.
I see that something is there,
but I can’t make it out.
I squint and the edges begin to sharpen,
but then are lost again to the darkness.
My eyes are beginning to adjust now.
For a moment I seem to recognize the shape,
but then it is gone again.
I reach out for it.
It’s too far away.
As I step forward
I stumble and almost fall.
It’s close now.
I reach for it again.
The feeling is strange:
here a part that is cold and hard like metal,
there a part that is soft like fur,
here also a part that is rough like bark.
My eyes continue to be of little help.
In the distance I hear a voice, and then—
a light!
The faint beam of a flashlight is searching through the fog.
I call out.
The light is pointed in my direction.
I look up at the unknown shape.
In the fog and shadows,
it looks like a monster.
I still don’t know what I’m looking at.
But now I can see the parts I had felt:
that the metal bit is brass and not steel as I had imagined,
that the fur is actually some kind of plant fibers,
and that the bark extends upwards far beyond my reach.
Before I can even begin to consider what the thing is,
the light is gone again.
I am alone once more.
I turn the images and sensations over in my mind.
My ignorance has become confusion.
Perhaps I am unprepared.
I don’t have a light.
Now I hear footsteps and voices in the darkness behind me.
They see that there is something there and are wondering what it is.
They express a curiosity about it so mild that I am baffled.
Isn’t it strange?
Don’t you want to go see what it is?
I approach them,
being careful not to stumble in the place I did earlier.
I stumble again in a different place.
I greet the passersby.
I tell them what I know about the mysterious object,
about the brass and how cold it is and so on.
But I can’t tell them what it is.
At best, they are now as confused as I am.
But I think not.
Their imagination may fill in the details,
whereas I have seen a thing firsthand which I cannot describe or understand.
After listening politely
they continue on their way.
I should go, too.
Maybe I can return one day with a light,
and walk around the shape and properly inspect it.
Maybe one day I will know what it is.