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Silhouettes
By Denise May
So many reasons I should not seek them. Not on moonless nights when coyotes scream like wounded babes….in the dark just on the brink of the woods. But, the horses call to me in silence. Others dare not hear, but I cannot resist their whispered invitation.
I stand still as the night itself, but they know I have come. They hear of my presence whispered among the creatures of the night. Suddenly with no sound to announce them, the horses step out of the night and into my waiting space. Huge black shadows that beckon lesser beings to walk right through them into their very heart and another world. Dark silhouettes against a sky dimly lit by stars. Magestic beings suddenly there with no sound to precede them. No daytime greeting, request or need. Now is time for the comaraderie of trusted friends gathering to reassure and be reassured. Slowly and gently, the giant heads curtsy and eyes close, grateful for the safety of my presence and the welcome company of one more sister to listen, watch and know.
These are the moments that I long to share, but only happen in the privacy of magical intimate moments that cannot be clocked. I inhale deeply - my head and heart nearly bursting with the sense of their truth, integrity, courage, patience, gentility, warmth and acceptance. So willing to trust me with their life and yet so superior in their strength and their knowing.
There is no time better spent to than to be accepted as one of their own…what joy…what wonder! How could I possibly choose to leave their company and return to what living and being was without them? For it is here that I am truly alive - risking the way of the wild for the mere chance to melt into their mystery.
My family worries that I am alone out there with them in the woods, the dark and the quiet. And yet, it is I who worry about those I cannot take with me.
How still the air… how perfect the peace… how real the night.