Saturday, December 30, 2017

Saturday Matinee - The Lady in White

We all heard it, soft in our ears at first but growing louder as we sailed north along that rocky coast!
It was a sirens call to sea and we all fell under its spell....and we followed that sound...that beautiful sound....it called to us, it sighed in our ears like a lover, it pleaded with us, it seduced us....
We were enraptured as we drew closer to shore....
"There!!!!" someone shouted, "There on the cliff!!!"
And we saw her, a vision, standing alone in her flowing white gown! Her red hair waving in the wind as she sang....her words calling to us....beckoning us to come closer and closer...
We sailed into the maelstrom.....one moment we were listening, enraptured, and then we were swirling in terror as that giant whirl of water pulled us to its center....taking us to a watery grave!!!
I dove over the side and swam for the shore...others followed but the water wanted their souls and pulled them down to their end,
It was a miracle that I lived to reach the shore and as I looked out over the sea, now once again grown calm, I could find no trace of my shipmates or my ship....all gone as if they had never been!!!
I turned to the cliffs and to my surprise found a winding switchback path that led me to the top and there I found her....beautiful and terrible at the same time....I could see her and I knew that she had caused the death of my ship and I instantly knew that she had done this before!
"Who are you" I demanded!
"I am the spirit of this place, I have waited long for one to find me, I have called out to so many over the centuries and none have come to save me.....you are the first!"
"Centuries? What do you mean...."
"I was here when the Romans came, I was here when the Norsemen came, I was here when the Saxons came, I've been here so long.....I've stood on this cliff for ages calling out for someone to save me....for someone to set me free!"
"What do you mean set you free?"
"I have called out to hundreds of ships and I have seen thousands die in the cursed waters below....my soul is black with guilt over the death of so many men....but it is my fate....I must call out to them.....it is the only way I can ever be free from this....this cursed life!!!!"
"But what must be done to free you?"
"Are you willing to grant me peace man?"
"How do I set you free from this monstrous place, how can I make sure you will call no others to their death?"
"You must declare that it is your desire to set me free and that you do this of your own free will!"
"And then you'll be free!"
"Yes, then I'll be free!"
"Easily done....I Bartholomew Dennison do hereby declare that it is my desire to set this tortured soul free!!!! I do this of my own accord and in the name of God!!!!"
Her smile grew as a light pulsed around her....it was as if I was seeing all the sinful deeds being washed away from her soul and she looked upon me....
"I thank you so much for freeing me from this cursed place and I pray that your years here will be shorter than mine were!"
"Wait....what do you mean?"
But she was gone....
And so I have stood here for years, so many years....I have called out as she did to passing ships and many met the same fate as my own in the swirling maelstrom below but so far no one has survived to come and set me free....I stand here in my swirling white dress and my wind whipped red hair, and I watch the ships as they pass.....no longer wooden....now gray metal....without sails or masts....and I sing to them but it has been so long since any have come.....perhaps the great engines that propel them prevents them from hearing my song....but I must try or I will never be free of this place....and I sing the song whose words I understand now....
"Save me.....stand for me.....release me.....become me!!!"
The song is beautiful if only these modern sailors can hear it....please god or gods or whoever has cursed this place....please let them hear it!!!!













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