‘Twas a dark night in her heart and all the world, with deep shadow touching every living thing. She sighed as she wandered the familiar forest path, using memory to guide her steps in this place without light…
“Not much hope to be had here,” she said softly, thinking of how lost the world seemed. “Not even the brightest new sun could enlighten these people, I suspect…”
As she moved slowly through this woodsy shrine, she mourned for all that would be lost this time around… The animals, whose only crime was to co-exist with narcissists… The trees, whose silent sentience had served countless generations in wisdom, strength and love… The innocence, with which every human child was born, and later forced to sacrifice to gods of greed and hardship… The knowledge gained by honest hearts, then twisted into unrecognizable form…
“Perhaps it is best in the end, if all of it is gone,” she ventured once again to her audience of One. “Some things… people… never change. And the suffering of All must end!”
Eventually her steps carried her to that sacred place where so many had gathered over Time to honor, to celebrate, to grieve, the everyday lives to which they had shackled themselves. And sure enough, she found a small group gathered now around a brilliant Yule fire, singing songs to ease their fears, keeping company with one another through the long night, vigilant in watching for the birth of the new Sun. She stood there, at the edge of the wood, unnoticed in her Shadow, witnessing this meeting of Tradition, unsure how she should feel in this Moment…
For it was not fear or grief that touched her heart in this moment of communion… There was no spite, contempt, or suspicion fueling her reaction… There was only… calm? Or peace, maybe (?), as she gazed solemnly at the small community… She stood there silently a long while, as she tried to puzzle it out…
Eventually there came a time when Silence descended on the gathered group, and only the crackling of the fire could be heard. She noticed a small head lift up from its mother’s lap, and turn to stare directly at her, standing in the shadows. Suddenly a single bird called out, signalling the coming Dawn, and all the people stood as One to face the East… except the child, whose eyes remain fixed on the unmoving form at forest’s edge…
More birds spoke up, announcing the coming day, and the humans lifted their voices to join in the joyous song. The child nodded once at the silent Guardian of the forest, before turning to greet the Sun…
The Doe stood there long enough to see the light crest the horizon, before turning back to the sheltered paths of her home. But she noticed as she walked along that her steps might be a little lighter than the ones that led her here. And it occurred to her that perhaps… maybe… not All were lost, after all.
“There is still a small chance that this sun shall enlighten some,” she told herself, repeating what she knew to be an old and tired refrain from countless Yules… “We shall see… we shall see… what that child becomes…”
the otherhood of one 