Ice

It was told to me that long, long ago at the edge of the beginning of time there sat the Great Raven in blackness.  There was neither contrast nor light to bring it forward.  The raven and its blackness were all there was and nothing could be discerned but the raven and it could not be seen.

And she sat in her utter darkness and the darkness was with her and she thought that there must be more to it all than just to be.  She needed love and so she conceived her mate who was as black as she and they sat in the darkness and could not tell where she began and he ended.

And he said, “My love, there must be more to love than just the wonder of your presence.”  She said, “What could that be? We are already as two are one in this darkness.”

“Perhaps passion?”

“That might be dangerous for it has many flavors and might spoil our muted universe.”

But they went ahead and made love and their joy made stars in the darkness.  Their passion was immense and soon the sun and moon appeared and the earth too, warm in the glow of their love.  All could see the elation in their creation because all was not black but filled with color and light and green leaves.

But one sad day, the Great Raven, said to her mate, “There must be more, I tire of you.”

Her mate was hit with these words and knocked from his perch.  Getting up shivering and stiff he cried. “What is this you struck me with that covers my feathers in hard shimmering?  What is it that your words are made from that freezes my heart?”

“It is ice which I will cover the universe with and take the warmth from your heart.”

And so each year as we pass beneath the wing of the great raven the world turns to ice from her cold words.

by Gregory Gusse