Author: A. Gouedard

The Green Dress

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Flora was the prettiest girl in the village. She was known for her friendliness and free spirit and her very sunny smile. Sam admired her very much and thought she would make the perfect wife to help him run the local tavern, of which he was the landlord. She had all the right qualities.

They hadn’t been married very long when he told her lovingly that he sometimes felt anxious for her safety when she was out alone.

”I worry so when you come through the woods – could you not use the village road instead?”

Flora said, ”Well yes I suppose I could but I love the woods. You have no need to worry.”

”I may not need to worry” said Sam, ”But that’s how I feel and I can’t stop it. If you cared how I feel you would take the village path.”

Flora did care how Sam felt and she thought it wouldn’t be so hard to do what he wanted and so she agreed and she no longer went to the woods. Time spent amongst trees had lifted her spirits. She missed them. But she loved Sam and his feelings were more important too her.

A few weeks later Sam said, ”You know, I really think you talk to the men in the bar too much. It makes a bad impression.”

”I am only being friendly,” Flora replied.

”It’s more than friendly,” said Sam. ”You laugh too loud and do all you can to attract their attention. It hurts me to see it.”

”I am so sorry,” said Flora. ”Don’t be jealous. I love you.”

”I am not jealous,” said Sam, ”It hurts me to see you making such a fool of yourself and the men will take advantage of you.”

Flora felt guilty and stopped laughing in the bar altogether and she kept her eyes down and only smiled a little when serving the drinks.

She decided to make a special chicken dinner as it was Sam’s favourite. She wanted to make him happy.

At the end of the meal he said, ”That was delicious but please don’t suck the bones so. It’s irritating.”

Flora was unhappy. She felt so often criticised but little by little she changed to please him.

One day in the village she saw a lovely dress in the shop and decided to buy it. It would cheer her up and please Sam too. The dress was a soft green, her favourite colour. It reminded her of the woods she missed so much.

That evening she wore the dress to surprise Sam. After she had cooked dinner she went and put it on and came to the table wearing it. But instead of being pleased Sam said, ”Flora you know I don’t mind you spending money but I really think you should have asked me what I thought of the dress first before you decided to buy it. I might have suggested a different colour. Don’t you even care what I think?”

”Of course I care,” said Flora, looking down.

She never wore the dress again. She didn’t feel comfortable in it. A month later Sam asked where it was and said it was a waste of money to buy a dress and not wear it. She never bought a dress again, without asking Sam first.

One night in the bar an old friend of Sam’s said how lucky he was to have married Flora, her being a good cook and all, and Sam replied,

‘Yes she is. She ain’t the girl I married though. I don’t know why. She used to be adventurous and laugh a lot, I liked that about her. She doesn’t smile like she used to either. Changed she has. That’s the trouble – you marry ’em and then they don’t make any effort no more”

Grasshoppers & Locusts

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The Grasshopper is a solitary and pretty creature who does little but eat and wanders through grasses and chirrup. But pressed by hunger in barren land it will scurry to any place where food remains – and so do all the other Grasshoppers! This creates a crowd and they all push and shove against each other to eat and survive and in so doing they tickle each others legs.

Now you might think that this would make them feel merry and frolicsome, but No! not the Grasshopper! For this constant crowded tickling turns him into a Locust! He becomes quite ugly and sprouts wings and rushes off in flight with his fellows and they greedily eat everything in their path. Everyone hates them.

Given help from nature and a situation of peace and calm to gather our thoughts in contemplation we can all find our way back to our more beautiful manifestations and so does the Grasshopper, I am glad to tell.

For when he is full and no longer starving he, being naturally solitary, wanders away again from his fellows and wonder of wonders, away from the crowd with all tickling ended, he becomes once again the chirruping green fellow we all know and love (well, I love them and hope you do too).

So, if your brother or sister turns ugly, greedy and generally nasty and pushes to grab everything and seems to be changing from the beautiful person you know (they may even grow dark stripes and wings, who knows) consider the Grasshopper and give him the food of kindness until he feels full again and also the blessings of space and peace and soon he will chirrup again.

Life can transform us all. If we are unwitting or pressed by harsh circumstance we may become things we would not want to be. Desperation to survive can cause extremes. Take care of the Grasshopper.

a ditty

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there’s no shortage of sadness

– install a switch of gladness

to run all the happiest snapshots, quick,

it’s a very effective mood changing trick

analysis is all a theory

likely to make you feel dreary

at worst it may lead to madness

– so press that button dearie!

Making Music

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the joy, the thrill, the exaltation

when all our harmonies are right

as we weave around each other

moving in and out, the tune delights

 

we change the key, we change the mood

the mysteries of the minor drop

all the wistfulness and beauty

that makes us conscious of our loss

 

you bring the chords to a crescendo

i swoop the violin above

circling in a spiral, upward,

a melody of endless love

 

now the music plays itself through us

this is not our composition

it is handed down in trust

as we open wide our hearts

 

faster still, with wild abandon,

played in perfect resolution

at last a passage strong and tender

ending on a single  note

Lost in the Witchwood

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the wood is dark with threatening trees

every time i look they are closer

though  i never see them moving

 

i have been trying to find the path now

for  a long lonely week or longer

i lost count of all time and direction

 

if the breadcrumbs we dropped ever existed

they are not to be found any where now

eaten by hungry birds for survival

 

does the witch of the wood really exist

she may have been killed long long ago

or is her house in the next clearing

 

is the cage baited with sweet delights

is the clang of the trap waiting ready

are her fires well stoked for the roasting

 

in the dark i stumble over ancient roots

twigs snatch at my hair like gnarled fingers

in darkness there is only despair

 

The Horse so fine

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Riding in from the fields of scented heather

Leaving the hills of our home behind

We entered into the city on a horse so fine.

All decked out in embroidered leather

His deep chestnut skin like satin gleamed,

His mane was the gold of a polished crown,

A white diamond shone on his brow.

Wonder of wonders, this horse, and the maid

With the sparkling eyes, were mine.

The rings on his bridle jingled

In harmony with her sweet ankle bells

As he sidled, side-stepped, pranced.

His ears flicked and turned to every sound.

The curve of his neck showed pent up power.

Who would not admire such a horse

As he insolently passed them by?

He circled and danced, lord of the ground,

An enchantment to hold every eye,

A part of the seeds of our undoing.

Such seeds there were aplenty then,

One was surely jealousy.

How could I know we rode him to our ruin.

What else did they begrudge me

While I sang the songs of my homeland,

The land I loved so well.

This city was never ours for the taking,

The world was ne’er so good to our kind

Though we were royally welcomed there.

Youth is innocent, trusting, blind.

His eyes were wild and wide,

His tail held high, a flag of joyous defiance.

His bridle caught the sun.

He tossed his head to show his fire.

His hooves rang out on the cobblestones

The horse and I moved as one

As I danced him round the town

The Music Room

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two notes echo still

near the piano

they hover

middle C, B flat

a warm scent

jasmine and almonds

hangs in the air

footsteps

softly retreating

I remember that

whenever I think

of the music room

the passageway

door to the garden

open a crack

the window

looks out to the sea

where the tides

roll out and back

washed over grey

to the distant blue

 

 

The Fool

/ A. Gouedard / 2 Comments

A fool set out on a journey. Yes a Fool! Everyone who saw him instantly knew that was what he was. His face was so innocent. He always smiled. He had not a care in the world. He imagined that anyone who did have a care was the fool instead of him. He was too sweet and charming to be seen as arrogant but in a way he was. I will tell you where he went in a minute.

Now what was this fools name? Let’s just call him Ned. Ned walked about in the world as if it was his personal playground. He whistled as he went, always a merry tune. He lived in a village and his people provided for him and that wasn’t always easy for them but he never noticed that.

Ned spent a lot of the day idling about in the woods. He liked watching nature. That wasn’t stupid in itself of course but he had a habit of poking his nose into places he shouldn’t, like hornet nests and badger holes. I am sure you can imagine the consequences of that! He had been bitten by a badger and stung by a hornet and he was lucky the whole nest didn’t set upon him. Did he learn from this? Well, no.

People told him he should learn from his mistakes. He had no idea what they meant. Surely the same thing wouldn’t happen to him again whether he learned or not. That was his simple minded philosophy. His curiosity far outweighed his wisdom, you can be sure of that.

Ned went on his merry way caring about nothing and taking it for granted that everyone looked after him as much as they could.

One day he was out in the woods and he went further than usual. It began to get dark but he didn’t care about that. It started to get cold and he found a cave to shelter in. He didn’t go in very far.

In the middle of the night he heard the sound of heavy breathing, almost a snore, further back in the cave. I ask you, what would you have done? The sensible thing?

I am not sure that I wouldn’t have done exactly as Ned did in fact. If  he didn’t do it there wouldn’t be a story to tell. You all know that.

So he did what a natural born fool always does. He got up and stumbled along deeper into the cave. Now let’s have a guessing game. Who or what is snoring?

Well it’s obvious really. A dragon. Asleep. Ned can tiptoe away. But does he? Oh no! He has to have a much closer look of course, being Ned the Fool. He noticed that its huge foot, which had very long sharp claws, was resting on something but he couldn’t see what it was so he lifted the dragon’s foot. That had obvious consequences.

The dragon stirred and woke up. Ned didn’t run. Even the dragon was surprised at that. The dragon stared at Ned for a moment and Ned just stood and stared back. Ned was still curious about what had been under the dragon’s foot and he glanced down. He saw a ball of crystal that glimmered and gave out a light. The dragon followed his eyes and then gave a mighty roar. Ned clapped his hands to his ears but didn’t move. He stood transfixed at the sight of the beautiful Orb.

In the light of the Orb Ned saw that there was a huge chasm directly behind him that he had somehow blindly avoided on the way in. The dragon reared up and spewed fire above Ned’s head; a warning blast. Ned bent down a little, covering his head. The dragon swung round and hit Ned a swift blow with his huge tail, which spun Ned in the air and into the abyss. Ned fell for what seemed to him an age. Through the air he fell, head over heals. The world was up, the world was down, the walls of the abyss spun. The pit was full of light. The Orb had fallen after him.

Ned landed on his back with a thud that shook his skeleton to its core with a judder. He was lucky. He had landed on a pile of soft earth and leaves. The Orb landed right in his lap. The dragon roared above but couldn’t reach Ned. Ned sat and gazed at the Orb.

As Ned gazed at the Orb he began to see pictures and visions. It was an endless procession of lessons and consequences, actions and results; his past, his present, his future. He saw how beautiful nature is but he also saw it was necessary to respect it. He saw what other people did for him and how protected he was, and what a fool he had always been. Ned began to understand. A clear intelligence dawned in his eyes. Slowly there came a glimmering of what can only be described as wisdom.

Hours and hours passed with Ned never averting his gaze from the Orb. He started to feel hungry and then he looked about. He saw that long vines clung to one side of the pit and they climbed all the way up. But he knew the dragon was still above.

Ned thought. He knew he could wait for the dragon to go and then climb up and run off keeping the Orb but that might take a very long time and he really was very hungry, and thirsty too.

He didn’t feel it was right to keep the Orb either. What had happened was really not the dragons fault. He had disturbed it and must have seemed like a potential thief.

Ned made a decision. He called up to the dragon.

”I am sorry I woke you up and I didn’t want to take the Orb, but only to look at it. I didn’t even know how precious it is. I am sure you can use this Orb far more wisely than I can. But now both I and this Orb are stuck down in the Abyss. Will you let me come up and bring you the Orb and then let me go? I give you my word that I have neither bad intentions nor a wish to rob you. I have seen much.’’

The dragon saw absolutely no risk in this as he could easily kill the Fool if he didn’t keep his word. He had no actually wish to kill anyone at all. He was a very peaceful and wise dragon. He agreed.

Ned climbed up. Once on his feet he placed the Orb on the ground beside the dragon and he bowed his head in respect. The dragon was very pleased.

”Go back to your world now,” said the dragon, ”and take with you all you have learned. I suspect you have some work in this world and I will watch your progress in my Orb. Know that a dragons blessing goes with you. Use it well.”

Ned returned to his village. People saw instantly that he was changed. Though he still had the pure, open heart of a fool he also had kindness and wisdom in his eyes as clear as day.

Ned still liked to wander and study nature but he helped his people too. When Ned needed to consult someone wiser he would return quietly to the cave and sit beside the dragon and sometimes the dragon just slept but sometimes he talked to Ned and Ned learned much from him.

In time stories about Ned spread and people came from miles away to speak to him and consult him on matters that were important to them. They would show respect and try to call him ‘Oh Wise One” and ‘Master” but he insisted on being called only Ned the Fool. Only a fool calls himself wise. The one who is wise knows he is still a fool.

It takes time spent in the abyss for a fool to become wise but a real fool stays there, whereas the wise fool sees the light and climbs out.’’

Guest Post – In Praise of Survival, by an Unviable Man

/ A. Gouedard / 2 Comments

I am re-blogging this just because I like it – plus I too have seen this and, having seen that it is possible, is a source of strength and reassurance that brings optimism