Reunion
~

        I lay sheltered by the grasses, which sweep and flicker over my body, and I make love to the night.

    Above me, the whole of the sky stretches, velvet black on eternity, the stars strewn across my vision like precious grains of salt spilt in the night.  Within each crystalline lattice, energy shimmers, casting ancient light onto the curves and contours of my body.  The eons of travel seep into my limbs, permeate the structure of my bones, filling me with visions of faraway realities, long lost from me, which I may never know again.  The cool light plays over my skin, I guide it with my hands to my darkest and most sensitive places.   Starlight ripples through my fingers.

    There is a light breeze, a movement of breath from Father Sky.  It washes me, stripping away the mental grime I harbor from the stresses of daytime.  Thoughts of responsibilities are lifted and borne away on the wind, mingling with last year's leaves and next year's seedlings.  All around me whispers the music of the circle, the trumpets call lowly from the lake, the strings whisper from the grasses, the pulse of Earth beats beneath my head.  The symphony is orchestrated to the movements of the shadows and to the play of the sky as it turns in its never-ending journey.

    I arch my back, seeking caress, as my Father-lover descends on me, invisible against His sky, save for the twin glow of abyssal blue eyes.  I feel His size hover over me, like static pressure it presses me.  The heat of His body rivals the hidden sun, but there is no sensation for me except pleasure, a quivering snake within my depths, tail fluttering in my stomach, mouth breathing venom into my loins.

    His body draws in the night, holding the whole of the cosmos captive within each shining scale.  Starlight reflects off resplendent talons, each point descending to my skin, taking possession of me.

    Tipping nimble digits, His claws explore my glowing body.  I feel the static traces fire my nerves.  Wide leathery wings canopy over us, beating slowly and silently to dispel the nuclear heat in the tight space between our bodies.  I press up, feeling the slide of His scales against me, running my arms up to encircle His elegant neck.  How many eons, how many lifetimes have slipped unnoticed between us?  I catch the gleam of silvery teeth, hear a low reverberation deep within his chest. Father-lover, Embodiment of the Night, warming my cold clay form once again.

    A fire has been kindled within me, and I long for Him to tend it.   His shaft is Light, driving into me with the force of splendid detonation.  I feel it streak into my skull, invading every hidden place within my body, filling me again with brilliance.  A nova explodes in my womb, flashing with vibrant energy, the sweet violent joining of my egg with His flaming seed.  Life within me. . . I have become Mother.

     He lifts His gothic head to herald our union to the universe, to dare any to challenge a bond forged in fire and silver.  His roar claims my body and the swirling galaxies within me as His own.  The symphony of nature pauses in response, creation listens with intent interest to His proclamation.  I feel the warmth of re-belonging as He wraps gentle talons around my glistening shell.   I cry, for it has been so long since we have known each other, since we have touched.  Eternity has lived and died since last I gazed into the eyes of my Father-lover.  A rush of air is chased away as His powerful midnight wings beat a strong rhythm.  The grasses part from the force and I am lifted, with the tender care of a Father holding His Child, and I feel a dizzy sense of ecstasy as we spiral up into the sky.

    The universe enfolds us like a welcoming blanket of velvet and diamonds.  Together we return home at last. Mother, Father, and our children . . . the stars.

_______________________________________________________________________________________

Jennifer L. Ellison Matulaitis, October 10, 1995.  Copyright 1999 raptor@LD4.myip.org

The beautiful illustrations to this story were done by and belong to Ironwing, ironwing@vt.edu

The song "Reunion" was composed by and belongs to the Dinosorceror, dino@LD4.myip.org