Once upon a time a shy snail met a vibrant yellow and they fell deep into conversation.
I am yellow. Gold, lemon, acid, bright, sunshine. I am the colour of fear and the colour of joy. Light floods in where I shine, shadows are deeper, purple, gray. I taste butter and honey, see gold buttercups, see the light shine under a child’s chin, see laughter, hear laughter. I say, I shine. Buttercup open holding pollen holding petals to the answering sun.
I am snail. I hold my shell as a hiding place. As a home. The shell’s spiral leads to the centre. I slip slowly, close to the earth. I leave silver where I go. I am slow, often still. I pull myself in, within, to find refuge from danger. My eyes explore outward, outward, once and again. I unfurl.
Yellow: Welcome, snail. I see touches of myself in the swirl of your shell. See how it catches the light.
Snail: Your light is too fierce, it will desiccate me. I must hide.
Yellow: I am not the white fierce light of the sun, I am the dappling of gold on the floor of the forest, I am the edge of shadow. You can move through me, your shade is all around.
Snail: I see you, with my eyes gazing here and there, with my rasping mouth I taste the fall of leaves you filled, now soft and brown. My silver trail traces small pathways across your dappled ground.
The beginning.
