Copyright © 2010 by William R. Mistele. All rights reserved.
The
Knight, the Merman, and the Maiden
For the merman Ermot, the waters of the stream breathe and sigh, caressed
by air, hiding in sand, seeping beneath rocks, falling in space, and circling
in mountain pools. Tiny currents
crisscross at the edge of mirror-like water as it enfolds and flows around a
rock. The waters dip and turn, the
bubbling ripples like hands of a dancer telling a story as they move in
countless swirls and curves. And on it
goes, forever new, forever changing, drifting downstream to the sea, the waters
of the stream laugh and dance like young girls carrying baskets of fresh fruit
to a joyful celebration.
Not so the knight riding a mighty warhorse
returning from foreign lands. As he
crosses the stream, he is weary and worn, his heart damaged and torn. High ideals to which he is sworn—all the
light and justice with which they did shine—the time of dreams such as
these—they have expired.
The knight hears the hooves splashing in the
water. The merman hears with the ears of
the water and foresees the future. The
knight has just entered the dream of a being from another
domain, from a land so far away it has neither entered into nor is it
portrayed in any of mankind’s mythologies.
And in this moment, the merman is within the
heart of the knight and sees the future open before him. The path to the left that the knight plans to
take, it leads to a home that is cold and empty. There the years and decades
will fade away. There a life will lose its light and night shall fall with the
knight wondering what was the meaning of it all.
The horse stops where the road forks. The knight does not realize his hands have
pulled back on the reins. “To the left
is where I should go. But life seems to
flow the other way. My castle waits. My
lands require their lord. I have duties. I have a place in society I must
take.”
But life flows the other way. Without a
thought crossing his mind, the reins pull to the right. The horse turns. A day passes and a night.
Another fork in the road. “I know the way to a great city lies to the
right,” the knight says to himself. “To
the left there are valleys and dark forests, places that are not well-marked.”
Like a strong undertow, like a ship that
rises up to ride a wave down its face, like praying all night in a church and
the first rays of dawn make the candle’s flames obsolete, the way to the left
calls out like a song.
The knight speaks aloud, “I have been to the
city. I am well-known in that
place. There is honor and respect and
brothers in arms who will welcome me into their homes. Why then would I choose to wander alone?”
His hands on the reins decide for him. The
horse turns to the left and knight follows another lonely road.
Two days later, the knight enters a
tavern. The master of the house brings
him mead, hot soup, and coarse bread.
And then the master’s daughter comes out. She touches the knight’s shoulder from behind
him and asks, “Is there anything else you require?”
Invisible to mortal eyes, a merman sits at a
table in the corner. He watches the
dream unfold. He watches as the knight
turns and looks into the girl’s eyes. In
that moment ten thousand years of water splashing and dancing in streams all
over England and all the feelings that lovers’ hearts may dream—these feelings
flow from one through the other like water being poured into water.
Another year later, the merman sits again
unseen in the corner of a great hall in the knight’s castle at a wedding
festival. Early in the morning, just
before dawn, the knight rises from the marriage bed and sits by the widow
watching the indigo light of night fade as rays of rose and pink begin to play
upon the horizon.
And then recites this poem for the girl from
the tavern whom he has just married.
These are the very words the merman heard when the knight’s horse first
entered the stream, words from a dream in the mind of a being from a race of a
land so far away they as yet have no place among the stories of humanity—words
that have now become reality--
On this night
On this night
The howling in the trees is
gone
The wind sings a sweet song
The volcano’s devouring
flames
Becomes tame
On this night
Because you are in my arms
On this night
The most
bitter tears
The lost soul
The love that has grown cold
All terror and fear
Are images in a mirror
And now they are gone
Because I hold you in my arms
On this night
Decades thrown away
Dreams that would not stay
Hopes I could not defend
The broken heart that will
not mend
But on this night
Love has found me again
She is my friend
Because you hold me in your
arms