Ribbons by Night

"SWIFTLY walk over the western wave,
Spirit of Night!
Out of the misty eastern cave
Where, all the long and lone daylight,
Thou wovest dreams of joy and fear
Which make thee terrible and dear,—
Swift be thy flight!

Wrap thy form in a mantle gray,
Star-inwrought;
Blind with thine hair the eyes of Day,
Kiss her until she be wearied out:
Then wander o'er city and sea and land,
Touching all with thine opiate wand—
Come, long-sought!

When I arose and saw the dawn,
I sigh'd for thee;
When light rode high, and the dew was gone,
And noon lay heavy on flower and tree,
And the weary Day turn'd to his rest
Lingering like an unloved guest,
I sigh'd for thee.

Thy brother Death came, and cried,
"Wouldst thou me?"
Thy sweet child Sleep, the filmy-eyed,
Murmur'd like a noontide bee,
"Shall I nestle near thy side?
Wouldst thou me?"—And I replied,
"No, not thee!"

Death will come when thou art dead,
Soon, too soon;
Sleep will come when thou art fled:
Of neither would I ask the boon
I ask of thee, belovèd Night—
Swift be thine approaching flight,
Come soon, soon!"

-Shelley

Newness and change has made everyone testy and on edge. New people at the First Wagons .. new ways of thinking and doing things that set others off. Others who have grown comfortable in their ways and their thinking. Instead of trying to get along they all just shut their minds to each other. I have grown tired of the fires and the tensions and the wounded prides. I have begun to seek out happy people in happy places. Where there are stories being told and songs being sung. It has helped my mind ease and give my soul strength. I have not seen anyone at the fires or any of those of the First Wagons for a couple of days. With the extra work and the evenings away I have not had the chance. But it was good I did not have the chance. My patience with their lack of vision has grown thin.

But I am feeling much more myself now .. a couple of days with positive input have given me strength I needed and a peace of mind that I have not felt in a long time.

I was not looking for the little parchments. I was not looking for the little dry weeds. But one came my way despite all that. Again the words touched me so deeply. So beautiful and ethereal like a dream that I know I have had and I know I remember but only .. when I read the verse. The verse is like the window to the dream and without it I can not quite see it. This time it did not make me angry to look out the window to my dreams .. this time it soothed me .. easing into my troubled thoughts like a few days away from the fires did. The string was knotted and added to the armband with the story of the song of night. And in my mind the woman of the ribbons began to take shape and form and I began to know her from her thoughts and dreams written down on tiny little parchments and sent out upon the plains.

It was not as if I did not have the troubled thoughts any more. Or that the tension was going to ease at the fires. Or that I had solved all the problems or that I expected people to just relax and get along with each other. They rarely got along with their own Tribe family let alone new prospects .. so no these slim possibilities were not what gave me peace. I had gained a peace of mind despite all these things. And the chances of me ripping the head off someone who came to me bitching had lowered considerably and I valued my very few days away for that reason.