So. You have caught me halfway through a dream.
In a little room of a tower, clean and bare,
I sat and dreamed. I looked out
far beyond the space of the walls,
down a plain, into a dark wood.
I was alone.
There came onto the plain,
girded with a golden sword,
a knight on a pale horse.
His hair streamed.
There were no gloves on the hands
with which he led the steed.
I was moved by his approach.
Curious, his near-coming garnered my gaze.
Under the wall he reined up his horse.
His voice rose up.
“I am the servant of a noble king.
He would have you come for his bride.
Come down from your tower,
and I will take you to him.”
“Sir,” I replied—the voice was not my own—
“there is a lock upon this tower.
It is sealed with seven seals.
Answer my seven questions,
and I will descend to be the bride of your lord.”
The noble knight nodded in response.
“Tell me first: who is your lord?”
“My lord, who sent me from a land far off,
having heard that there is none among the seven lands
better than are you, or who can be your match,
is a lord above all other lords.
He sits on a high throne that is on a high mountain.
From there he can look out on all the land.”
“Tell me second: is he handsome?”
“My lord is twenty times more handsome than the most beautiful of the children of Adam. He is surrounded by a court of retainers and of beautiful women who are always desiring to see his face. But his face is veiled behind a veil of silk, and he will lift the veil not until such a time as he is ready, for otherwise his beauty would overshadow the world.”
“Tell me third: is he powerful?”
“His left hand has the strength of thirty men, and in his right he wields a sword that is sharper and larger than all other swords. None of the children of Adam can compare to his might.”
“Tell me fourth: is he rich?”
“If I had seven years I could not describe to you the face of every gold coin that is in the treasure chamber that stands behind his alabaster palace.”
“Tell me fifth: is he generous?”
“Lady, if you will come with me, he will shower you with all the riches I have described, and will open to you the endless fountain of his mercy.”
“Tell me sixth: is he well loved?”
“People come from near and far to honor him. Come with me, and you will be honored with him.”
The six seals were broken.
“Tell me seventh, and be quick to seal your answer in no more than one word, or the seal will remain forever sealed: of what substance is your lord?”
The rider sat a moment back in his seat. His head hung as he thought. Then, gripping his spurs, in a loud voice he said, “Love.”
I descended to the door. A hand that was not my hand undid the latch. A foot that was not my foot stepped onto the path. The beating of the heart in my chest was the beating of a heart that was full of love that comes from a king sent from afar out of a wood over a plain by a noble knight with a golden sword to break the seven seals that seal a tower that holds the heart that in my chest beats.
Gott sei Dank.
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