Puzzler [YWC]

Within the tiny confines of my room, apart from the rest of humanity, from the light of day or the glow of night, without any sound to distract me...

I yearn for nothing!

There is no need to discuss purpose, or meaning, or any of the amenities that everyone else assumes is required by human existence. There is no hunger or infatuation or emotion whatsoever. No need for compassion, or friendship -- or especially love. Likewise, there is nothing to hate, and nothing to fear..

I require nothing. Except... except...

My puzzle. I require my puzzle. That is all I need.

No clock measures how long I have occupied myself with my puzzle. Years have past. Maybe decades.

I don't need time, nor any of its instruments. I remember my past, but never dwell there. There is no desire to monitor time, or relive, or remember.

There exists only the puzzle. And me. Together, during the long lapse of years.

Once there was a time when I was debonair and glib, when I commanded respect, when I deeply affected all those around me and controlled them for my own means and desires -- sometimes cruel beyond forgiveness -- I crushed and wasted my opposition for the sole purpose of self-gratification. I was loved, and I was feared. I was offended. I was despised.

And if I were to spend any time contemplating the chain of cause and effect that ultimately delivered me to my tiny room, I would have to acknowledge damage I did to humanity, which must still linger untreated in the hearts of those who knew me. At least a few must still remember me. At least -- one.

Influences of pain, rippling throughout mankind, emanate from me as surely as waves from a heavy rock, once tossed into calm water. I would acknowledge that -- see it with absolute clarity -- if I chose to dwell there.

But I don't desire that! There is nothing I want, other than...

My puzzle. Yes -- I need only that.

And I contemplate it now, turning my full attention to it yet again, and again, endlessly seeking a solution to that puzzle.

In my tiny room, alone and without distraction, I ponder:

What is forgiveness?

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Fell in love with that at the end..You made grumpy smile.