Every day at nightfall she goes out with her lantern to light a road in the middle of nowhere.

It is a road nobody ever crosses, lost in the darkness of night, and lost, too, in the light of day. It is a road that comes from nowhere and goes nowhere.

The neighboring forest gnaws at the margins of the road, the trees grip it from below with their roots, and weeds grow in between the cracks in the rock.

But every night she comes out with the first star and hangs a lantern above this solitary road. Nobody will ever come this way. It is a difficult journey and there is no reason to come. Some roads have shade and other roads cover longer distances in half the time. And there are still other roads that make a straight line through an endless maze of streets. There are many other roads in this world and people will travel them all. But there is not one person who will set foot on hers.

Why then does she light the road for a wayfarer who doesn’t exist? And why this constant show of obstinacy every single night?

And why on earth does she smile when she lights the lantern?

Dulce Maria Loynaz ‘Absolute Solitude’