Lilting

The Ballad of the Mirrored Maiden

 I once had a dream

Where I met a dreamer

The dreamer was everyone and no one

Neither female nor male

But their voice

It spoke of angels

The dreamer stared at me

From it's shadowed corner

And I heard a smile

Play at its lips

I asked for a name, for a reason

It told me a story

The story spoke of all things

All things that make us human

And better

All things we feel and the hope that lives within us

It told me love, it told me forgivness

It told me tears, and empathy

But last it told me hate

At the mention of hate it changed

The angel I had presumed was demoned

It's form from light to dark

It's voice once sweet to sour

I tasted the bitteress of anger

My tongue burned

I grew wings

Thin and ragged

Like a spider's web once spun

But not white

"It is your blood" the thing said to me

"What is?" I asked with suspicion

"The taste in your mouth"

I stared at it and understood

It was teaching me again

Telling me the rest of the story

But gone was the lightness

Now it had shown me the dark

The hate that bubbles within the veins of humanity

Our downfall, our disgrace

And then a small thread snaped

Within me I felt the hope finally fall

This was truth

The anger faded, the taste turned to tears

I fell upon the nondescript surface upon we stood

My pores began to seep some burning black liquid

I drowned in guilt

And then it returned

The voice returned

It told me I had drained my hate

"How can I hate, now that I have seen?

How can I feel now that hope is lost?

How can I stand to live when I shall only fall?"

It gently took my arm, and led me to stand

Though my eyes remained fastened to my feet

I felt the hand gently caress my cheek

Softer than anything I'd ever known

Cool and yet warm, touching my soul not my skin

Motherly

It guided me to look forward

And it's form now had shape

Now had gender, and difference

I looked upon her, marvelling in the features

They were touched with kindness

The eyes spoke of warmth and hope

A gentle smile played upon her pale pink lips

Beautiful

Beautiful

"Hate will always live,

Within one and all.

But there is always hope

As long as you fight.

You are a child of earth, a child of truth

You're eyes are blessed with the sight of empathy.

You feel as others, you worry for all, you live to protect all.

You, you are hope.

And all others like you.

Live to love, even if love is pain."

Her words slowly stitched together the thread that had fallen

Stitched it upon the very fabric of my soul

A scar, a lesson

Hope, there is hope

I am hope

As long as I believe there is

And believe that there is a spark of this

A spark of this strange substance

In everyone

"Live..." I whispered with newfound hope

And she smiled

I gazed upon her

With a feeling of love, and recognition

She was a mother, she was my mother

That was all that mattered

She turned to walk away, and fear hit me

Good bye is a word I detest

"Wait!" I cried

And she turned

She gave me a bright smile

And laughed, her laughter like the light tingle of bells.

Her hair billowed behind her, her dressed danced at it's golden hems

And upon her right hand glinted silver

I sat upright, awoken

Longing filled my soul

Longing for this beautiful apparition

I lifted my hands to hold my face, and frowned

Cool and yet warm

My hands

I brought them down and stared

A glint of silver

The laughter rang once more

A ghost in the sunlight that dripped into my room

Me

A dreamer

The dream.

My story.