Journal No 12

28th Jan
O Captain, My Captain,

Another week has come and gone. Time is such a funny thing, some sort of strange self imposed curse upon us humans.
Another Written Word Challenge is behind us, and many a fine tale were told. I have enclosed a card archiving the tales. Looking back, I think there was some commotion over Miss Lauren's pet crow, a slingshot, and a flying cake. Seeing as how my attention was diverted, my recollection is fuzzy at best, unreliable at its worst.

I do regret not being able to fill in more details on the events of the past week. I have applied myself to my studies and the...strain has taken a bit of a toll on my person. I find myself tiring rather easily. I nod off at the strangest of hours with the oddest of dreams.
The dreams are varied and many, shifting from one to another so quickly you only have the whisper of a memory swirled into a sea of moving colours. I found a sense of self clinging to that coloured wave, flowing along following where it would lead. Colours shifted into form. The dream essence around me coalesced into a strange kind of energy; lightly electric but tinged with something..more. I found I was able to focus my gaze upon the form. Shifting forms of colour became a crowd... no a sea of people. Never have I seen so many gathered in one place. The air still held that electric intensity. I would swear that it roiled and moved like something alive. I drifted along that feeling, and found myself hearing music that reached the depths of my soul. I followed the ocean of bodies towards a huge stage a washed in strange fabrics, coloured organic lighting that bubbled across the.. bards that performed. I found myself a part of the ocean, swaying to the tune not unlike the movements of the tide. The words stayed with me upon waking from the ethereal and fantastic. As is the way of dreams, it burned away as I awoke to the here and now, leaving that place neither here nor there but somewhere in between. Before the words to the music were stolen from me I penned them down and now share them with you....

Let my inspiration flow in token rhyme, suggesting rhythm,
That will not forsake you, till my tale is told and done.
While the firelight's aglow, strange shadows from the flames will grow,
Till things we've never seen will seem familiar.
Shadows of a sailor, forming winds both foul and fair all swarm.
Down in Carlisle, he loved a lady many years ago.
Here beside him stands a man, a soldier from the looks of him,
Who came through many fights, but lost at love.
While the story teller speaks, a door within the fire creaks;
Suddenly flies open, and a girl is standing there.
Eyes alight, with glowing hair, all that fancy paints as fair,
She takes her fan and throws it, in the lion's den.
Which of you to gain me, tell, will risk uncertain pains of hell?
I will not forgive you if you will not take the chance.
The sailor gave at least a try, the soldier being much too wise,
Strategy was his strength, and not disaster.
The sailor, coming out again, the lady fairly leapt at him.
That's how it stands today. You decide if he was wise.
The story teller makes no choice. Soon you will not hear his voice.
His job is to shed light, and not to master.
Since the end is never told, we pay the teller off in gold,
In hopes he will return, but he cannot be bought or sold


I know O Captain, My Captain, that you will find echoes of truth in the bard's song. I want nothing without risk, and nothing common place, heaves forbid, nothing mundane. I set the bar rather high. Only you have managed to knock it down.
Achingly Yours Angeline~