IN THE CLOUDS

When the sun comes out, bringing springtime with it, the air of the city changes. People dress differently, walk around more, feel all together happier. For me, I spend more time in Central Park. As I sit on a wooden bench one Sunday afternoon, I watch the little children play on the playground, their parents and nannies chasing them around. One little girl is jumping around the turf in a tutu, squeling every time she lands with both feet on the ground.

I look to the clouds and bask in the sun. Though it's shining, the temperature is still only 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I pull my scarf farther up my neck and see what shapes I see in those cumulous clouds, the same way I did as a child, the same way I imagine they little girl jumping around does when she lays on the grass staring up at the sky. As for me, I see a horse pulling a carriage towards a castle. What would the little girl jumping around the playground think of that? Had she ever ridden a horse before, or sat in a carriage as a horse pulls it along?

What is this castle that it in the clouds? Perhaps it is the home to a family who just moved in. They had to leave their first home because of fighting and lack of necessities. Though afraid, the children were brave and came to this new home, knowing it was for the best, even though it was terrifying. They listened to their parents explain why they needed to leave, and they tried to understand. But as young children, they could only process so much.

In the clouds, I bet life is much better than down on the ground. In the clouds, everything is freer and benevolent. I imagine the city in the clouds to be a place of creativity and innovation, where there is less egotistical, oppressors bullying others to get what they want and pollution is just an old wives tale.

If there is a world living in the sky, I would hope it is a utopia. Though it is seemingly near impossible to exist, it would be fitting for a utopia to be found in the clouds. A perfect world in a perfect place. High above where the air is clear and the beauty never ends. With all the dystopian novels and television nowadays, it is hard to imagine any situation working out to be the ideal world...or does that make us imagine and wish for it more?