What is it as soft as Velvet?

I got back home around 2:00 p.m. totally exhausted…it felt as if I just got out of an oven!

As usual took a quick bath and grabbed a bite to eat… and with a book on my hand I dozed off…

I soon began to dream. There seemed to be a death-like stillness about me…I was alone. I woke to the sound of a noisy bird calling nearby and from there started wandering. It was getting dark and the forest was alive with sounds. Birds getting ready for bed, crickets starting up their chirping songs, and frogs in a small pond calling out all in a chorus. I sat down next to a large oak to gain my senses. I was disoriented and had no idea where I was. I didn't even know how I ended up here amongst all these trees. But everything around was so beautiful…I was wearing a peach- frilled dress, though having no idea where did I ever pick it up from(*or maybe borrowed*) it just didn’t seem to be mine, but it was beautiful, I looked like those fairies out of Narnia…

As I looked down there was a narrow path filled with trillions of rose petals, wandering who might have taken the pain to do such a thing…

But then I had to get back and find out where I was, so I decided to walk,sitting there wouldn't help either…Walking very slowly having the fear of hurting those soft petals, as far as I stretched my vision I could see the never ending path with more and more petals…and my eyes followed the squirrels racing through the trees, around the trunks. The birds fluttered about singing. But my thoughts again went back to the worry about how I ended up here. I walked don’t know for how long, and reached a lake covered with a blanket of white Lilies, it was as if it had snowed! I was so thirsty, so bent down and had a few sips of water and then decided to rest under the nearby tree. The sun was going down and a soft orange light filled up the place, and the flowers adding rainbow hue to the green backdrop…It seemed as if it was Heaven(*or Never Never land. Or maybe Oz*)! Everything around here was so mesmerizing.It seemed as if I was watching one of those 'faerie' films and  soon fell asleep…

I woke up again this time to the sound of my mother calling and found myself in my room and my head resting on my mother’s lap…then I checked the time, it was already 6:00 o’clock, and I realised that I was dreaming…I asked, ‘why didn't you wake me up before?’

She smiled and said I looked so peacefully beautiful that she didn’t want to disturb until it was time to finally wake me up…

It is believed specially among Indian Bengalis that one shouldn’t sleep in the evening, it is the time for evening prayers…though I don’t think the same way, I have my own reasons for not sleeping after 6(*perfect time to read a book or listen to music, the weather cools down so one can go for a walk or maybe I can talk to my friends as they are back from office by this time…blah…blah…*),so generally no one is allowed to sleep at that time in my house…(*Mother’s strict rule no.3*)

But before I jumped out of my bed, I sat for a second,thinking

“What is it which is as soft as Velvet?”……

Quoted: "There is no velvet so soft as a mother's lap, no rose as lovely as her smile, no path so flowery as that imprinted with her footsteps"~

~ Archibald Thompson ~