Ode To De Lune

• Jennifer Gao, Grade 12
• Short Story
• 2020

Note: Please have a listen to Claude Debussy's Clair De Lune, it is a mesmerising piece. My short story corresponds with the piece, and listening to it before, after, or while reading my entry will definitely enhance the experience. Thank you.

The staggered notes gradually deviated to a steady pace. Nightfall was coming. The melody descended in pitch, as if a calling for the synthetic lights of the city to be replaced by stars. I was sitting, cross-legged on the rooftop of a building, staring down at the nearly slumbering man-made grand canyons of Manhattan. The flowing river of cars and pedestrian traffic progressively died down in numbers, the grazing of rubber tyres against asphalt riverbeds were becoming more infrequent to amplify the deafening silence.

Nevertheless, all musical pieces have their climaxes. Slow to rapid, soft to dramatic. Whispers of the breeze to roars of the wind, periodically to sporadic persistence. Perilous seas of coldness washed over me, not indicating loneliness, rather reminding me that solitude is my friend. He is polite, witty but not arrogant, an accomplice to my escape.

The city’s melody called for me with its ascending glissando, asking me if I am ready to see its show-and-tell item.

Semiquaver after semiquaver, it was quite the breath of fresh air. Rapidly ascending, quite different to just moments before. Following the contour of the melody, I saw myself.

I watched my young, excessively-social self, evolve into a reserved and independent person. Somewhere along the way, I lost that wide-eyed, naive girl I knew and loved, but gained someone who sat back and observed more than becoming involved.

I grew up with the city. The soaring towers of Manhattan so high, they seemed to curve over and cover the sky, shielding me from the outside of my shell-shaped mind. The buildings are like synthetic beanstalks that are impossible to climb, but may lead to endless possibilities in leading a different kind of life. Was this really the life I wanted to have from now and beyond? What if I would be too busy for a family? What if it becomes too expensive to live here? What if, what if, what if?!

"Calm down", it is as if the melody had said.

The bittersweet piano’s rubato slowed down each note, and also my racing mind. But it was hesitant, and with a hint of uncertainty, it silhouetted my thoughts. It, as am I, is unsure about what the future brings.

The melody was recognisable; a familiar, intimate feeling. The first few seconds of the piece was here again, but a difference rendition. One of hope, one of reassurance. The harmonic accompaniment had more movement. The tune was resonant as nothing else could make me experience the serene nightfall of Manhattan as these harmonic frequencies integrated together.

Recognise and adore beauty in the moment.

There it is again, that deafening silence, other than my ticking clock. Unlike the flowing music, the ticking had a fixed, rigid tempo. No uncertainty, no hesitation, no creativity. Reality is tedious and repetitive and I do not want to attend it.

Leading me to another world is a power that lies within Clair De Lune.