Beginning IV
You push on, and come to a tree-shrouded vale with a rushing river that crosses your path. In the distance, above and beyond the trees, can be seen the crown of a low hill, upon which a circle of standing stones is outlined against the greying sky.
The torrent before you is clear and not impossibly deep -the stony bed is visible through the tumbling crystal surface - but the waters run swiftly, and being melt from the eastern hills, must be icy cold.
Yet another meaningful and prophetic run of lines you encountered once in an old monastery tome fills your mind.
I Await Thee at the Ford
A Knight there sat upon his Horse,
No further might he go.
A Darkened River before him lay
with Vengeance in it's Flow --
.
A Devil's Shivver the Knight bewrayed,
as it coursed down to his toes.
"O' spiteful Wind of deadly Force,
of Misery and Woe!"
.
Crow there sat upon Standing Stone,
Foes' Gleam within it's Eye,
and dimly raised afar the Banks
of Stream that bubbled high.
.
A reedy Vale of Fairy Sidhes
lay nigh beyond the Ford:
Within defile of Mountain knees, whereat
he seeketh Lodge and Board.
.
By Travails Past had come to him,
the Map to Korebenischt,
It had guided him by Steady Way --
Compass True before the Mast.
.
A Peerless Prize he sought to win,
beyond every golden Crown.
beneath that Mound below the Moon --
a Wealth deep-laid therein.
.
A Meeting blesséd by the Stars,
that shone above his Birth: the
Measured Fruits of that Tree of Names
that had gifted him the Earth.
.
At Castle Black was to be found,
the Prize Penultimate.
That Holy Grail he would Embrace,
And Adore unto his Fate.
.
With Grail in hand, beyond the Ford,
his Trial would be complete,
A Sentence run through Ancient Land,
to birth a Phoenix of our Lord.
.
Weighty Waters and the Sands of Time...
... he strove with Biting Cold.
The Month was near, but not quite come.
Have ye the Patience of the Old?
Örpherischt, 10 September, 2022, at 13:22 UTC