Snow-Child

for Magpie Tale 247
dVerse

I’m waiting for the swirling snow

To stand in a world turned crystal

Stretching wide in a cold white blanket

I’m wrapped tight in a warm blanket

The frozen window between me and the snow

The glass panes are frosted like craved crystal

I’m dreaming of bright winter crystals

Head on the pillow; tucked under the blankets

Everywhere and everything covered in snow

I’m a snow-child with a crystal throne in a world blanketed with white

Moon Rose

for The Honeybee

enchanted petals
opening
crimson like a rose

in the moonlight touched
faint rose
opens for the muse

Lost in the Straw

for the Honeybee

 

Tiffany glanced at her watch. It had almost been an hour since they had entered the Straw Maze. It had been dark when they came in, but then the straw bales had been clearly visible. It had been fairly easy to identify the dead ends. Now it was impossible to see down the corridors of straw. Dave had been smart and bought a glow stick and Kirsten had her phone out, two comforting blobs of light ahead of her. Neither she nor Sarah had thought to bring any light. Kirsten had gone through the maze the week before and Tiffany hoped she remembered the way out.

“How much longer is this going to take?” she called to the front of the group. “Who knows?”

“Not much longer.”

“Forever! We’re never getting out.”

Tiffany sighed. She probably shouldn’t have asked. “I think we need a strategy, aren’t you supposed to pick one direction and always turn that way? Just wondering isn’t working.”

Kirsten’s cell phone suddenly stopped, “Aha! I remember this. We have to go through the tunnels.”

Tunnels? Tiffany watched as the light dropped and then disappeared. The glow stick followed it. Not wanting to be left behind, Tiffany quickly scrambled after her friends. She was finally close enough to see the dark hole in the straw – there really was a tunnel. Crouching down she crawled in, relieved to be able to see the light again.

“Wow, this is cool,” said Sarah, just ahead of Tiffany.

“It kinda is,” agreed Tiffany. The straw was squishy beneath their feet and the dusty smell of straw was all around them. All the bodies where blocking the light and making it hard to see. She hoped she didn’t bump into anything. She put out her hand and grabbed onto Sarah’s jacket. Sarah cried out.

“It’s just me!” Tiffany reassured her. “I’m trying not to get lost.”

“There’s a short drop up here,” called Kirsten.

There was a pause as each person carefully slid down the drop. After a turn, they were suddenly back out in the open.

“So where’s the exit?” asked Dave.

“Um,” said Kirsten shining her light around. “It’s close.”

Tiffany turned her head up to the stars. Away from the city lights, she could see thousands of them. They were spread across the sky like spilled glitter. She’d been trying to look at them all night, but everyone had kept moving. “Look there’s the big dipper,” she pointed.

No one answered. Jerked back to earth, she realized that her friends had left. “Hey! Sarah! Kirsten! Dave!” she yelled. “Don’t leave me!”

There were three openings in the hay. Which one had they gone down? Without thinking she darted down the one her left. “Kirsten?” she called. Still no answer. She kept moving. She had to find them. In the dark, she nearly collided with another group. Finally, she dug out her own cell phone. Its light wasn’t as bright as Kirsten’s, but at least it was something. Wandering through the maze alone was a little creepy. There wasn’t anyone to talk to, and no one to hold on to. She had no idea where she was. She almost didn’t notice the streamers hanging down in front of her. She bit back a yelp when they suddenly brushed against her face. Looking up, she saw they were tied to a wooden beam stretched across the tops of the hay bales.

“Dead end back there,” reported a small family coming out.

“Are you sure?” asked Tiffany continuing in. Kirsten had said something about streamers at the end of the maze. She wandered in a circle, passing more streamers before coming to the same conclusion. It was just a bunch of dead ends.

Groaning she glared at the straw, as if she would be able to see through it. Being lost with her friends had been fun. Being lost by herself was not. She had to get out of here! But how? Her own advice finally came back to her. Choose a direction and stick to it. I will go right. Turning to the right, she plunged into the maze. At first she passed corridors and dead ends that seemed familiar. Swallowing her frustration she kept going. She ignored other people who told her about dead ends. Most of the time they were right, but she was going to stick to her strategy. Slowly, she ended up in places that she didn’t recognize. Encouraged, she began smiling. This wasn’t so bad. She passed another set of streamers, but these ones were new. She had to backtrack through them, but seeing something new made her too happy to care. She made more right turns, and noticed that she could hear the generator outside the maze. She had to be close to the exit.

Her steps quickened. Soon after that, she saw light down one of the corridors. People passed her, “Dead end that way.” She didn’t listen. Where was all that light coming from if it was a dead end? It was a long corridor, with lots of twists. But suddenly she stumbled out of the maze. A loud whoop greeted her from a crowd that was milling around at the exit. A wide grin spread across her face. She had done it! Scanning the crowd, she looked for her friends. Where they still in the maze? After a few minutes she walked over to the concessions stand and bought some hot chocolate. A while later her friends finally got out of the maze and found her, sitting on a hay bale, looking up at the stars.

Haunted House

for the Honeybee
and Magpie 242

Haunted House for Sale

Come and get it quick!

It’s dusty and aged

Hundreds of years old

Rooms full of cobwebs

Mice and lice (want bats?

That’s double the price.)

Each room has blood from

Unsolved murders past.

Kitchen shelves are lined

With evil potions

Try one if you dare.

Ghosts are screaming

Curses and warnings.

Haunted House for Sale

Come and get it quick!

Fading

for the Honeybee

Golden orange piecrust

Like the golden orange leaves

Waited for with great anticipation

A brief burst of glory

Golden steam rising

Apple and cinnamon rising

Wafting up and calling

While the leaves are falling

Golden orange dreams

Wafting on the breeze

Ethereal and quickly fading

The pie is eaten; enjoyed

The ground collects the leaves

Then a blanket of snow

Sometimes the Cat

for The Honeybee 

Sometimes softly

Curled in my lap

I find the cat

Sometime loudly

In desperate need

Calling me

Always lovely

Each hair perfect

Whiskers in place

And when purring

Eyes closed; under my hand

Peace, serenity

Joy untold

Halloween Run

for Magpie Tale 240 and the Honeybee

Night is falling, goblins whisper

The dead desert their graves

And you alone with no light

There’s something breathing down your back

Don’t stop to scream

Flee through the fields

Foot falls behind you

Wild noises follow

No escape from them

Scramble through the fence

And through the thorns

Ignore the blood you leave

Safe only behind bolted doors

You – hiding from the hidden things of night

The Wish

for the Honeybee

Once upon a time there was a wish

it fluttered through the air

dancing, shining through the sky

leaving snatching hands with only sky

they could not catch the wish

it kept searching through the air

seeking through the cold-touched air

and tumbling through the sky

for the One who would make the wish

at last the wish descended from the lonely air

and met a child’s sky-turned eyes

Autumn Comes

Magpie Tale 239

Over the trees the wind whistles

Rain dancing down from the darkened sky

And the leaves quiver in fright

Not one wants to leave the branches

Green dreaming, but they have lost

Earth colored now they fall

Echo

for the Honeybee

Calling to the sky

the voice leaps from the mountain

calling to the sky

rounding back with its cry

dancing through the waters

up with the steam it whirs

calling to the sky

Stained Glass

for dVerse

The sun

Shines through the glass

Tracing bright patterns on

The floor in red and green and blue

Falling down like magic. Changing the room

Into a chamber of wonder

Filling eyes with delight

Do you see them

Glisten?

Staring wide at

Those ancient glass windows

Catching and holding slippery light

Suspended in black frames by human hands

Faces staring down while we stare up

Caught ourselves in wonder

By dancing light

Golden.

Pearls

for The Honeybee

white birds

sitting like a strand of pearls

pulled from the waters

placed carefully in a line

with a green satin backdrop

pine needles waving in the wind

Seeker

for the Honeybee and dVerse

for the unicorn seeker

as you search the clouds

and the ocean waves

rising dancing streams of white

your eyes search every

view for the elusive unicorn

they say there is no unicorn

why then are you a seeker?

peering through tangled branches and every

dream caught against the sky’s clouds

hoping for a glimpse of a dazzling white

mane falling in waves

light and frothy like clouds

then you’ll know a unicorn

and reach to touch the horn white.

the journey is long seeker

many have sought and only seen clouds

straining their hearts at every

wishful thought and every

false start gone like the waves

yet still they look to the clouds

for somewhere there is a unicorn

so are you willing seeker?

to spend your days in search of white?

and when your hair turns white

and you see yourself in every

young and youthful seeker

till sighs come out like waves

to think they might see a unicorn

while you saw only the clouds.

but did you not see in the clouds

the horn spiraling white

and feel the eyes of a unicorn

brightly shining looking back at every

believer through the ocean waves

and know that he too was a seeker?

and when at last the clouds part every

elusive white horn through the waves

of a unicorn’s mane will be before you seeker.

The Wind's Isle

for the Honeybee

Sunlit pines mirrored in the lake

In the ripples they slowly quake

While wind rustles through the needles

Touching my face as it blows by

Gently rocking the dock while I

Hear the calling of wild gulls

The calm wind lulls me so sweetly

Greeting me like a lost friend she

Braids and weaves through my chestnut hair

Then dips through the lake and soars high

Playing with the gulls in the sky

And I sigh for such days are rare

The sun shines fair warming my smile

Here on the isle in the wind’s care

Castle

for the Honeybee 
and dVerse

Stones reflected in the

moat. Ancient stories blurred

by water soft and deep.

Old tales forgotten, yet

whispered through the quiet

ages. Calling out, but

leaving something unseen.

So let the harper play

Singing of those long lost

Days. Shadows dance upon

the stones. Past heroes come.

Forgotten tales renew

memories rise from the dust.

Unseen yet remembered. 

Fairy Vale

for the Honeybee

While wondering through a fairy vale

Sunlight splintered by the pines

Fairies led me down their secret trail

Fairies flew through the trailing vines

I watched the dance from shady bough

Sunlight splintered by the pines

Standing on the mountain’s brow

Sheltered in the valley’s clasp

I watched the dance from shady bough

I heard their silver songs and my own gasp

Among the fruits and flowers they called me friend

Sheltered in the valley’s clasp

With a thousand sights that cannot be penned

I walked there a year or more I cannot tell

Among the fruits and flowers they called me friend

I had no wish to wake from their spell

I walked there a year or more I cannot tell

While wondering through a fairy vale

Fairies led me down their secret trail

Porch Light

for Magpie Tale 236 and the Honeybee

the first moth spreads wings

under the moon but it sees

only a new sun

they fly too close by

modern light

irresistible

light in dark

led them to dance here

but where next?

light flickers

the porch light burns hot

banning night

   

eastward sun rises

scattering moths with the wind

porch light sleeps till night

The Flood

for the Honeybee

The two sisters had been sent on a walk after trying their parents’ patience for half the morning. No sooner had the rain stopped than their mother turned them out of doors. Now they were trying each other’s patience. Ten-year-old Rina, dressed in a tunic and leggings wanted to explore. Her older sister, Amethyst, walked slowly, trying to keep her silk skirts dry. When they reached the flooded bank near the river, Rina promptly began splashing in deep puddles.

            “Come on, this is fun!” cried Rina scampering through the water.

            Frowning, Amethyst backed away from the water and shook her head, “Come back Katarina. It isn’t ladylike.”

            Rina only splashed further into the flooded plains, blithely ignoring Amethyst’s cry of “Come back!”

            Happily, Rina waded through the pools left by the incessant rain. The water quickly rose to her waist and then to her chest. Sometimes she tripped and had to swim. Once she lost her shoe when she stepped into a big hole. She had to dive for it to retrieve it. It was a good day.

            Suddenly hands grabbed her and she was lifted out of the water. Rina screamed and kicked.

            “What do you think you’re doing?” asked a low voice.

            Rina groaned as she recognized the captain of her father’s guard – and her sometimes bodyguard. “I never get to do anything fun!” she whined as he set her down on a very solid and not flooded patch of ground. The captain sighed. Keeping the Baron’s daughter safe was not an easy task. Rina complained all the way back to the castle.

            Rina was severely reprimanded by her father and her mother, but she made no attempt at contrition. In exasperation, her parents locked her in her room to learn the error of her ways (with guards at the door and below the window to prevent her from sneaking out.) Rina spent a very long time in her room.

            But even years later when she understood how rightly worried her parents had been, playing in the flood was still one of her favorite memories.

Fishermen's Prize

for Magpie Tale 235 and the Honeybee

Murky waters under the boats

Sloshes around and through the nets

Salty spray lands on the men’s coats

Below hides the fishermen’s prize

Glimpses are caught of the pale fish

Pulled white from the sea with the nets

Piled around their boots to perish

Below hides the fishermen’s prize

Seagulls break the air with their trill

Diving for the fish in the nets

White birds also have bellies to fill

Below hides the fishermen’s prize

Dark waters cover the white fish

Below hides the fishermen’s prize

Picture This

for The Honeybee and Magpie 234

Picture this: who would not resist?

Two rainbows arise in the mist

Dancing in water sparkling bright

Above the sunshine scatters light

Fragile arcs caught by gleaming falls

Here fairies dance in nature’s halls

Unicorns gallop with their might

Above the sunshine scatters light

Fairies splash through delicate hues

Weaving magic around clear dew

Rainbows waver; elusive sight

Above the sunshine scatters light

The day ends. Moonlight falls down

Painting waves in a silver crown

Unicorns curl close for the night

Above the starshine scatters light

The sky looks down through starry gaze

The rainbows sleep with weary fays

Waterfalls flow by foamy white

Above the starshine scatters light

While the world rests and waits for day

Owls and dreams make their foray

Watching to see that all is right

Above the starshine scatters light

Pictures this: who would not resist?

Above the starshine scatters light

Rina vs. The Band

for The Honeybee

It had been a long time since Rina had attended a ball. She had almost forgotten why she hated fancy dress balls. The restricting ball gown quickly reminded her. Balls had been one of the few lady like things her stepmother had not allowed her to participate in. She knew Rina would ruin them. The annual Goldgate Fall Festival, in Rina’s hometown, was coming up and the band had a quest to escort a young girl there.

“Why do I have to do this?” Rina complained while tugging at the green dress.

            Gold smiled apologetically. “Sorry Rina, the fairy godmother hired us to help her godchild out, since she has to attend the Godparent Continuing Education Seminar this week. We’re getting paid well too, so grin and bear it.”

            Rina sighed resignedly. “I know. Okay, so the godchild’s name is Ellen, and she wants to dance with her true love. Who is he anyways?”

Gold checked the notes. “Actually, the fairy godmother didn’t fill that part out. Weird. Just ask Ellen. Once you figure it out, push the guy into dancing with Ellen. True love should take care of the rest. And try not to look uncomfortable in the dress.”

            Rina made a face but she knew he was right. The band’s sorcerer had made a decent looking carriage out of an old pot and the band’s horses were hitched to it. Rina envied Thomas, he got to do the driving, which she was sure was much more interesting than sitting inside with Ellen. Ellen was pretty enough, but seemed incapable of giving an accurate description, much less name, for her true love. Rina eventually just looked out the window.

She had been surprised to get a quest in her hometown. As they pulled up to Goldgate Manor, she sighed. Actually, the pervious baron had been her father. But she had given up the barony to go adventuring. Her cousin Cedrick was the baron now. For her, the worst part about this quest wasn’t the gown. It was going inside Goldgate. To her heart it was still home, even though she had willingly left it.

            “Alright,” Rina whispered as they entered the dazzlingly ballroom. “Who is your true love?”

            But Ellen appeared to be rendered senseless by all the wealth and lights in the hall. The ballroom was very large with an exquisite mosaic of dancers on the floor. Having grown up running around Goldgate Manor and sliding all over the ballroom in her socks, Rina wasn’t quite as impressed. Suppressing another sigh, Rina diligently tried to get Ellen to be able to communicate, until the baron approached them. All ability to speak promptly left Ellen.

Baron Cedrick had recognized Rina. “May I have this dance?” he grinned at her.

            Rina smiled back. Cedrick had been one of her favorite cousins. Figuring that the best way to get Ellen to talk was to get the Baron away from her, Rina accepted. And maybe Ellen needed some time to settle in first.

            “What are you doing here?” Cedrick asked as they danced.

“My band has a quest here. We have to help a girl meet her true love.” Cedrick was a very good dancer, making it easy for Rina to follow him and hopefully disguise the fact that dancing was not her strong point.

            “A noble quest,” agreed Cedrick. “Can I help?”

            Rina shook her head. “I think she’s afraid of you. Just stay out of her way. She’s pretty overwhelmed as it is.”

             So she danced after that dance they parted ways and Rina went back to Ellen. Cedrick diligently steered clear of them, but Ellen didn’t calm down. She was crying and wouldn’t say anything until they returned to the band.

            “You danced with my true love!” sobbed Ellen as they stood in her kitchen garden.

            “Cedrick?!” exclaimed Rina indignantly. “How can he be your true love if he doesn’t even know you exist?’

            It was not the right comment. Ellen sobbed harder and Gervas signaled for Thomas to drag Rina away. Later Gervas warned Rina that if she tried to interfere with the quest, the band would tie her up. Rina scowled. She couldn’t let her cousin get married off to some goosey empty-headed girl.

            The next night Rina decided on a bold, direct approach to get Ellen with her true love. Once they got into the ballroom, Rina didn’t waste any time trying to let Ellen settle in or admire the room.

            “Come on Ellen,” said Rina. “You really need to meet your true love.” Grabbing her hand, Rina plowed through the room. Nimble dancers gracefully leaped out of their way, while clumsy ones stumbled and bumped their toes. They all gave Rina dark glares. Rina didn’t pay any attention to them and headed straight to her cousin.

            Cedrick raised his eyebrows, surprised that Rina was introducing him to the women she had told him to avoid.

“Cousin, this is Ellen. You should marry her.”

            Ellen fainted from embarrassment. Baron Cedrick restrained himself from rolling his eyes and called for a healer. He asked Rina to dance with him, but she sweetly said she would only do so if he danced with Ellen first. Cedrick really did roll his eyes and then spent the rest of the night avoiding Ellen. Which was difficult because Rina kept dragging Ellen after him. Once again, Ellen left the ball in tears.

            The next night, the band had the sorcerer put a spell on Rina to keep her at camp. Then they managed to lock Baron Cedrick and Ellen in the library in hopes that close contact would help them warm up to each other. But Rina’s work was already done. Cedrick took the most boring book in the library, a collection of Goldgate’s tax records, and read the entire thing to Ellen in a monotone. Ellen decided that she needed a different true love.

For more of Rina's adventures, see the Green Crescent Heroes.

Myself

for dVerse and The Honeybee

and Magpie Tale 241

Looking back

I see You

And yet –

Looking forward

You cannot see me

What would I say

To You, Myself?

When You cannot hear?

What advice should I give

To the tunnel

You must grope through?

Which from My end

Is lit

But from Yours

Is Dark all through?

Or what advice would I, Myself

Give – If I could stand farther

And Look back again?

What warning, what guide?

To what stay true?

Or would You speak to Me

I think I know Your worry

Never fear

I have kept My Essence

And Looking forward from here

Through the mist

Though Myself I cannot see

That Essence I see still

Delayed

for dVerse

When the typhoon raged

And sent sheets of rain and wind

Howling and crashing through the streets

The hotel was quiet inside

Expect for the ringing of the phone

“The flight’s canceled,”

Quenching the flame of excitement

We had dreamed of for over a year

Home was only an ocean away

Five days of waiting

Not sadly – this place was our home too –

But there were ashes on the flame

We seemed to forget

That ocean was crossable

Until the fourth day we remembered

That home was a possibility

And ghost flames of excitement rose

Yet when the airplane took flight

It still seemed a dream

Until I heard my own language

And your voice on the phone

Then saw you waiting for me

When I came home

The Charioteer

for The Honeybee

The sun rides far

like a chariot in the sky

pulled by gleaming horses

and the charioteer sees all

I rode with him once

sight seeing tourist

everything below us so small

the world seemed

a child’s blanket

spread out to make a map

I felt very grand

Until the charioteer turned the horses

away from the haunts of man

he had a secret smile

he knew more than I

at the world’s end he tied his horses

their manes streamed gold

then quiet purple in the wind

and the sea mist rose up

ocean waves crashed

the cliff was bare white

and dizzyingly steep

and then I knew insignificance

the world was grand

and I was small

the charioteer knew all along

I think I’ll ride with him again