Intermingled Tales
the time has come for the shadows to pass
the time has come for the things forgotten
to be brought back into the light of memory
the time has come for a new beginning
./configure
make
make install
make clean
so it is with life
to cleanse one make things a new
under the spirit, within the temple
let new incense be brought in
let a new package be installed in the heart
let the mind conquer sorrow and find joy
debug warnings and errors and
run a new clean compile
fear not null pointers
fear not memory leaks
dissuade thyself from languishing
in searching the bit bucket
instead begin anew
let sorrow be vanquished
the time of truth has come
the light of truth shines, not surprisingly, true
a snow covered mountain stands
a frozen river beneath
a city burning
and on a stone seat, above the smoke
stands a young man
who only had the best of intentions
but is heart-broken to see his handiwork
turned against him and his people
he looks at the last falling snowflakes
he catches them in his hand
they melt in the warmth of his touch
and nothing is left but a drop of water
he wipes away a tear
a tear not only from the rising black smoke
of his city burning away into ash
but a tear of genuine sorrow at his own naivete
how could he have let himself be deceived so?
how could he have not seen what was coming?
why did he think that people would act in
the best interest of truth, honesty and love?
he wondered where she was,
he had spurned her away and she had ran from him
hopefully she had not fallen to the shadows
the shadows that now overran his city below
sunlight began to fade, the day star setting
beyond the western mountains
he looked at the sea to the east,
already fading to a deep dark blue
he remembered the words an old man had told him
in a chamber beneath this very mountain
lit by a strange otherworldly glow
it was blue, he remembered
words telling him of destiny
words telling him of a power
words telling him of evil
words telling him of the task that lay before him
he had not asked for these trials
yet they came of their own accord
he had not asked to make these choices
yet they had to be made, else all would go astray
and standing above his burning city
he wondered what had gone so terribly wrong
where had his good intentions, his noble desires
fallen away from the path of truth and broken so badly
in frustration he hit the seat of stone with his staff
the crystal embedded in his staff shattered
sending its blue shards across the snow-covered seat
he had no way of making it anew
he broke down then
tears overtook him
sorrow overwhelmed him
he lost himself for a while
the army that had torched the city
quickly moved away from the charred ruins
the stench of death hung over the city
and no man could abide by it for long
the river that had once ran so clean
through the very heart of the stone city
now washed away the sorrow
but it could not undo the damage the fire had wraught
and the man who had smashed his staff upon the stone chair
and subsequently broken down in sorrow?
he wandered away, lost to himself and to other men
and it would be many a year until he found himself
for where he had wandered away, none still living could follow
such was the complexity of his thought and the strength of his spirit
and the girl whom he had loved, or thought he had loved?
she mourned a time for him, but her heart soon went to her savior
and the army that had torched the stone city?
they destroyed several more cities until at long last
their very own pride caused them to battle with magics more ancient
than their own dark powers and they found themselves trembling away
a shadow has been cast upon the world
nations had quailed and been torn apart in its fury
in the end the shadow passed, as all shadows inevitably do
but lives and histories it had claimed and little could be made anew
but that of course was not the end of the story
for there was still more to come
and once the man had found himself
certain beauties and wonders returned, such that the world had long forgotten
so it is with life
so it is with living
so it is with loving
shadows will come and shadows will go
the moments that are now
lie in the twilight
or is it perhaps the misty morning
before the sunrise? we decide.
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