I have stretched above you since the first dawn, silent and endless, a canvas for many of your stories.

I am the sky; the boundless firmament that has seen millions of stories with every shift in the sands of time.

My stars – some suspended, some descending towards the earth as my stalwart messengers – have been witnesses to whispered promises and lovers lying beneath me with eternity in their arms. I have watched surreptitious kisses and carried echoed laughter like the rippling waves of my cousin, the sea, below.

But not all I’ve seen has been tender. My vastness has echoed with the thunder of warplanes, their plumes marring me the way wrinkles do, with time. I have uncomplainingly swallowed the smoke of devastating fires, choking and sputtering with the poison of human destruction.

And when your callous treatment towards me becomes too much, I rain down on humankind, letting my tears carry tacit words to the earth beneath. Perhaps that is why you humans curse me for my capriciousness, heedless of your own volatility.

Still, I have learnt resilience from you. I have seen restless vagabonds on the street strive on and survive on the scarcest of food; I have witnessed the innocence in children’s eyes when they believe I am magical. I have held paper kites, your fireworks, and your entreating prayers folded into lanterns drifting towards me.

I have been painted, worshipped, photographed, sung to. I am an eternal witness – to your love and your wars. When you feel alone, remember: I am above all you humans, watching, and will carry your story long after you are gone.

I do not forget; perhaps that is my curse and boon, all at once.