Closer: Canto VI: Faery Land

Submitted by Julie on Wed, 02/09/2011 - 00:36

Canto VI: Faery Land One door and only one yet its sides are two On which side are you? “Well, here comes the weekend,” I coughed “Shame I’m not feeling well.” I shuffle to my room unlock door, drop my backpack stop in the bathroom but when I open the stall door I see… I see… Towering evergreens against a watercolor sky ground speckled with forest wildflowers trampled grass paths I never consider the possibility I’m dreaming For if I was I wouldn’t blink at anything “Amazing. amazing!” I skip down the path “I’m Lucy of Narnia, I’ve found a new world, Yipee!” I wander through the wood Till the sky turns sapphire Only then do I realize I don’t know my way back I’m alone in a wood (possibly full of monsters) with… I turn out my pockets: a room key a Tootsie Roll wrapper a used Kleenex and a cell phone I flip it open No bars. Not surprising I don’t even get reception in my dorm But just as I begin to worry, I spy a bobbing light along the path ahead. I fight my first instinct to run towards it instead, I slink from tree to tree till I can glimpse a swinging lantern in an old lady’s hand “Who’s there?” she calls “Someone’s there” If she’s bad Running won’t save me If she’s good why should I flee? And the only way to solve a mystery is by fighting it So I step out “Hello” (At least she speaks English or maybe I speak her tongue) “Are you lost?” She asks “Well, you’ll freeze if you stay out all night Come with me I always have room for guests What’s your name?” Names have power and I won’t give her that power yet “Call me Shyllen,” “You can carry the lantern” she offers I could run away with it but where would I go? “You keep it I don’t know where we’re going.” I follow her through dancing fireflies to a tiny cottage Someone stands at the door silhouetted by dancing hearth fire awaiting orders The woman holds up her lantern revealing a face that makes me gasp

Author's age when written

Genre

Poetry