I Have Seen Wonders Untold

Comet Hale-Bopp as it appeared over Boulder, Colorado in 1997. Image borrowed from here.

When I was about six or seven years old, I was obsessed with space. I wanted to be an astronaut and travel out of the Earth’s atmosphere to go to the Moon, to Mars, to Jupiter, or beyond. I wanted to go “out there,” where no one else had been. Because it would mean seeing wonders untold.

But for a boy born with brittle bones, the reality of traveling on a rocket would mean being crushed by G-forces my body couldn’t bear. Becoming an astronaut would never be in the cards for me.

I could never go to space. I would never see a Martian sunset or watch as Jupiter filled the sky from Titan. I would never travel to the stars.

So I read. I read books about rockets and the men who rode them to glory. I turned to science fiction and read about aliens who visited our world and ships who sang. I moved on to fantasy and read of times and worlds never-before imagined, where dragons lived in peace with man, or where magicians conjured the forces of nature. I read horror and discovered Elder Ones who turned men mad, ghosts that tortured the living, and monsters that devoured flesh.

And somewhere along the way, I decided I could tell those stories too. Not because I was a better writer than those who came before me. But because I had seen things no one else had seen.

I saw horrible monsters in the basement and heard unspeakable terrors from the attic. I listened as a devil whispered in my ear in the dead of night. I was visited by beings that watched over me as I slept, then faded into shadows when I awoke.

I watched unexplained lights in the night sky, splitting apart and flying in different directions. I viewed a total lunar eclipse, comet Hale-Bopp, the aurora borealis, and meteor showers. I caught sight of a green fireball shooting through the heavens over Lawrence, Kansas.

I followed a rotating storm cloud as it passed over my apartment building. I smelled ocean breezes from the Atlantic and the Pacific. I tasted the best bacon-wrapped shrimp, so buttery it seemed to melt in my mouth. I touched the St. Louis Arch on a hot day. I beheld the beauty of a sunrise, and heard a city come to life.

And I found true love.

I didn’t have to leave Earth to see the universe. I only had to open my eyes and see the world for its amazing beauty and the wonders it holds.

This is why I am a writer. Because I have seen wonders untold, and I need to share them with you.

Kevin Wohler

Kevin Wohler is a copywriter and novelist living in Lawrence, Kansas. During the day, he works at a digital marketing agency in the Kansas City area. When time remains, he likes to tell stories of the weird and bizarre. And sometimes, he writes them down for others to read.