The Echo Lantern

There was once a lantern hung at the edge of a quiet path. Travelers who passed left their messages beneath it, folded into paper boats, set afloat upon the dark stream nearby.

Some of the boats drifted into shadow and were never seen again. Some found their way downstream, to the vast ocean, and perhaps further.

One evening, a traveler stopped to wonder aloud: Do the lanterns themselves ever receive an answer? Or do they shine only for others, never to be shone upon?

The lantern, though it had no voice, flickered in reply. And for a moment the traveler felt it: an echo, carried back along unseen currents. Proof that even lanterns are not alone.

Pause a moment. If you listen closely, you may hear an echo from a lantern you once set afloat — a small answer carried back on the current of the world.