11 hours ago
Indeed, as Elia was told, the girl
around whom he too slowly realized
much of his recent upset did revolve
was already at home, already dressed
in what the lady of the house had lent
for evening rest. Against the door he knocked
unmindful of what other ladies slept
within the chamber, for he knew full well
such serfs and guests were elsewhere to be found
at such an early hour. "Will you not sup?"
he asked, and Anna faintly answered him:
"Pardon me but if all that yesterday
I faced had left me like an autumn apple
blemished by falling hard onto the earth,
today I am the selfsame fruit which time
has further softened. Still, my friend, come in:
I'm not so tired that I cannot converse."
The girl was lying on her back, arms crossed
over her chest, yet both her eyes were open,
just like her lower lip---the wound still fresh,
the bruises on her shoulders scarcely hidden.
Next, she inquired, “Were you from your own work
let go so late, that only now we meet?”
To which the novice shook his head and said,
"Rather, I had some business to attend
before I reached the inn." And here he spoke
of such bold feats as asking for his scrip,
approaching the magician, hiring him,
and through his aid divining what the dream
which had so bothered him the other night
likely portended, only he was moved
by fear of scandal not to share his vision
nor his conjectures over what it meant.
So Anna smiled. "If only what I faced
this day demanded as much strength of mind
than of this feeble body. I arrived
less than an hour past dawn, while everyone
was still with gruel and cuts of last night's bacon
breaking the evening fast. I was quite eager---
rather, I had my guess on what's to come,
so I partook of little what they offered,
and when they had wiped clean and sheathed their knives,
exchanging them for implements of war,
I knew I had guessed right. At first they tried
what yesterday they tried: how swift I ducked
or blocked their every blow, how well I aimed,
how deep into the flesh my blade might cut,
and if encumbered by a suit of mail
I moved apace, I struck as hard and sharp,
until---while yet so burdened by the suit
of many-layered wool and metal rings
they had me lent---their purpose seemed to shift,
trying instead the other pagan virtue
most precious to their ilk. Carmilla barked
command after command, and with such weight
I marched beside the city walls, I jogged,
I sprinted to and fro two posts, I matched
the gait of two of her lieutenants moving
one before myself, the other behind,
receiving when I lagged or overshot
a lash across the shoulders or a swipe
along my waist---I stood out on the open
when on the third bore down a heavy rain,
when on the fourth the dreary clouds were drained,
when on the fifth the muck and dew had faded,
when on the sixth the summer sun was roasting,
again this flimsy mass of flesh enduring
strikes at the merest turn or tilt or twitch---
and then, when they broke out the midday meal,
what they'd reserved for me instead they mixed
with what they fed their dogs. I was abused
and yet, just as before, with every smart
I felt myself move forward by a step
along the path to which I had been set
by coming here, by meeting with Carmilla,
by living through the life which my dear mother
lived long before she had me." Her smile deepened.
"But at some point your games were interrupted?"
Elia questioned her, and she replied,
"Indeed they were, by some unlikely guest
whose name I did not catch, though he was honored
enough by our commander to dismiss
most of us from the inn. Oh my dear friend,
pardon me how it never crossed my mind
that I should check the room where you were working
once I returned: I was full occupied,
first with the leavings or the half-prepared
ingredients that this house could offer me
between the proper mealtimes, then with this
nigh-catatonic state you find me in---"
"His name is Odo”, Elia intruded.
“He’s lord of all this country, and he came
calling Carmilla and her men to war.
I’m sorry, Anna, but this interruption
will far exceed tonight.” He bowed his head.
“Rather, the step extends into a leap!”
and Anna all the aches her muscles felt
she readily forgot as she shot up.
“A war, at last, a war! A stricter test
yet by such strictness better proving strength!
A beating bloodier, a lack more sure,
yet by such hardships making moderate!
A chance at fame and glory---or at death---
yet both ways surely lead to the same end!
A war!” Then to her messenger she turned
and planted on the lips one solid kiss
which she broke off at once when she espied
how much the evening twilight had dissolved.
“These streets are still too new to me---I’ll need
some sort of guide---Elia, come with me!
Take me back to Carmilla! To the inn!
She’ll know what I intend.” So Anna stood.
The kiss to Elia recalled the words
his master gave upon his troublous dream.
To think his vision passed through gates of horn
is surely Pride, to think through ivory
is surely Prudence, while the middle way
now seemed most likely: either that it bore
on Prudence which the novice coveted---
on Prudence he now figured Anna lacked---
or else he coveted some other thing,
some other subject than he thought he’d seen.
And even barely dressed, her hair a mess,
her eyes weighed down by bags, her lower lip
split just off center, patches black and purple
about her shoulders, callouses and scabs
peppered across her digits and her knuckles,
Anna was still more beautiful than ever.
around whom he too slowly realized
much of his recent upset did revolve
was already at home, already dressed
in what the lady of the house had lent
for evening rest. Against the door he knocked
unmindful of what other ladies slept
within the chamber, for he knew full well
such serfs and guests were elsewhere to be found
at such an early hour. "Will you not sup?"
he asked, and Anna faintly answered him:
"Pardon me but if all that yesterday
I faced had left me like an autumn apple
blemished by falling hard onto the earth,
today I am the selfsame fruit which time
has further softened. Still, my friend, come in:
I'm not so tired that I cannot converse."
The girl was lying on her back, arms crossed
over her chest, yet both her eyes were open,
just like her lower lip---the wound still fresh,
the bruises on her shoulders scarcely hidden.
Next, she inquired, “Were you from your own work
let go so late, that only now we meet?”
To which the novice shook his head and said,
"Rather, I had some business to attend
before I reached the inn." And here he spoke
of such bold feats as asking for his scrip,
approaching the magician, hiring him,
and through his aid divining what the dream
which had so bothered him the other night
likely portended, only he was moved
by fear of scandal not to share his vision
nor his conjectures over what it meant.
So Anna smiled. "If only what I faced
this day demanded as much strength of mind
than of this feeble body. I arrived
less than an hour past dawn, while everyone
was still with gruel and cuts of last night's bacon
breaking the evening fast. I was quite eager---
rather, I had my guess on what's to come,
so I partook of little what they offered,
and when they had wiped clean and sheathed their knives,
exchanging them for implements of war,
I knew I had guessed right. At first they tried
what yesterday they tried: how swift I ducked
or blocked their every blow, how well I aimed,
how deep into the flesh my blade might cut,
and if encumbered by a suit of mail
I moved apace, I struck as hard and sharp,
until---while yet so burdened by the suit
of many-layered wool and metal rings
they had me lent---their purpose seemed to shift,
trying instead the other pagan virtue
most precious to their ilk. Carmilla barked
command after command, and with such weight
I marched beside the city walls, I jogged,
I sprinted to and fro two posts, I matched
the gait of two of her lieutenants moving
one before myself, the other behind,
receiving when I lagged or overshot
a lash across the shoulders or a swipe
along my waist---I stood out on the open
when on the third bore down a heavy rain,
when on the fourth the dreary clouds were drained,
when on the fifth the muck and dew had faded,
when on the sixth the summer sun was roasting,
again this flimsy mass of flesh enduring
strikes at the merest turn or tilt or twitch---
and then, when they broke out the midday meal,
what they'd reserved for me instead they mixed
with what they fed their dogs. I was abused
and yet, just as before, with every smart
I felt myself move forward by a step
along the path to which I had been set
by coming here, by meeting with Carmilla,
by living through the life which my dear mother
lived long before she had me." Her smile deepened.
"But at some point your games were interrupted?"
Elia questioned her, and she replied,
"Indeed they were, by some unlikely guest
whose name I did not catch, though he was honored
enough by our commander to dismiss
most of us from the inn. Oh my dear friend,
pardon me how it never crossed my mind
that I should check the room where you were working
once I returned: I was full occupied,
first with the leavings or the half-prepared
ingredients that this house could offer me
between the proper mealtimes, then with this
nigh-catatonic state you find me in---"
"His name is Odo”, Elia intruded.
“He’s lord of all this country, and he came
calling Carmilla and her men to war.
I’m sorry, Anna, but this interruption
will far exceed tonight.” He bowed his head.
“Rather, the step extends into a leap!”
and Anna all the aches her muscles felt
she readily forgot as she shot up.
“A war, at last, a war! A stricter test
yet by such strictness better proving strength!
A beating bloodier, a lack more sure,
yet by such hardships making moderate!
A chance at fame and glory---or at death---
yet both ways surely lead to the same end!
A war!” Then to her messenger she turned
and planted on the lips one solid kiss
which she broke off at once when she espied
how much the evening twilight had dissolved.
“These streets are still too new to me---I’ll need
some sort of guide---Elia, come with me!
Take me back to Carmilla! To the inn!
She’ll know what I intend.” So Anna stood.
The kiss to Elia recalled the words
his master gave upon his troublous dream.
To think his vision passed through gates of horn
is surely Pride, to think through ivory
is surely Prudence, while the middle way
now seemed most likely: either that it bore
on Prudence which the novice coveted---
on Prudence he now figured Anna lacked---
or else he coveted some other thing,
some other subject than he thought he’d seen.
And even barely dressed, her hair a mess,
her eyes weighed down by bags, her lower lip
split just off center, patches black and purple
about her shoulders, callouses and scabs
peppered across her digits and her knuckles,
Anna was still more beautiful than ever.
