Let me tell you a story. A story of light and dark, of day and night. Let me tell you a story of ocean waves and grassy plains. A story of love and hate, of power and oppression. Let me tell you a story of life.

dancing
running
laughing with joy of life
teasing
bring it back! she yells
laughing
you stick your tongue out
run and hide
help me catch her, she calls
he jumps out, chases you
a game of
catch me if you can
you all collide
spinning in circles
tumble to the ground
laughing

In the beginning, there was light. Not chaos as some may presume, but light. It was the light of love and the light of respect. Everyone was free and the whole earth was honored. And darkness was not feared, but honored as well, for it was born of the light. The rhythm of the seasons was heard in the beat of the ritual drums as the joy of the circle of life was passed from generation to generation. The circle of life, death, and rebirth.

fear comes
creeping in
you stop
carving wooden boxes to keep
herbs dry
instead carve arrows
and bows
and place healing herbs in the wooden boxes
dancing
for luck and hope
drums beat
telling the story of the earth
you dance
but only half listen

And chaos was created. It strove to swallow the light and spread across the world. The light and dark fought together, for they were both born of respect for life. But chaos struggled and grew stronger. Dreams were created of the end of chaos, and in the dreams light and dark still danced together. But in the world, they fought on.

dancing
sword flashing silver
fight for justice
fight for love
laugher has faded
but
you can still fight
for it to come back
as your hands are bound
in chains of flowers
unbreakable
as stone

Soon the dreams faded to myth and even myth was laughed at as a fantasy of the mind, but never something that had been true. Chaos grew stronger as the light and dark fought, for chaos lived off of the fight. It was a never ending cycle, but one of doom and sorrow, not laughter and love as the circle of life had been. It seemed the only way to win was to fight, but by fighting chaos was fed. And so chaos fed itself from its own strength, enforcing the laws it had written. The laws of war.

witch!
the cry comes
witch
a word once honored
with the meaning of
changer
shaper
wise one of the earth
but the call is now
feared
hated
burned in the flames
that were once cleansing and pure
now tainted with fear
of unknown

And the light and dark were almost consumed by the chaos. Places that had once been revered as sacred were now feared as evil. War was expected and became a way of life. Light and dark were separated, though they had always danced together. The light was praised as the giver of all, though in truth it was the chaos which had created the life people lived. The circle of rebirth was broken and the darkness, once part of the intricate dance of life, was feared. And so life itself was feared.

darkness
hides the evil
light
shines glaringly
hiding the dark
wincing from the
wounds
that aren’t too bad
yet
hiding in the maybes
perhapses
somedays
as the wounds grow
and bleed

The chaos triumphed for a time, and the light and dark all but disappeared from the world. By serving those with power, those who thought themselves weaker were protected and given a semblance of safety and a semblance of a time without war. But when war once more broke out, the weaker were afraid and turned to the stronger to protect them. And so the cycle was complete. The stronger caused war to ensure their power would never be threatened from within and the weaker supported the stronger so as to receive the semblance of protection. But chaos reigned underneath it all.

march
to chants of freedom
fight
with words and
hands linked together
holding back a wall
of anger
pushing forward
falling back
reaching
reaching
missing
but reaching again

The light and dark seemed dead beneath the chaos, yet everything that dies is once more reborn. A small light showed from beneath the writhing mess, flickering in the dance of life. People resisted war, instead trying to fight without violence. Once again, a small spark of hope was born. But instead of fading, the hope grew. From the small flickering light, chaos was pushed away until it no longer consumed the world. As it grew weaker, light and dark grew stronger, but the battle was not yet won. Chaos still held the world in its grip and would not let it go. But the circle of life started to be rebuilt.

laughing
you spin in circles
hand in hand
around and around as
grass
sky
sun
rain
blur into one
laughing
as you collapse in a heap
one on top of another
friends on friends
laughing
at the spinning world

Myths were remembered from the deepest parts of people’s minds. Myths of the light and dark which had once been dreams, and before then, life. These myths were created anew. Some people gathered memories which had almost been lost and wove the fragments into the old stories reborn, while some wrote new myths which said the same as the old, but were born in this time. All myths, however, returned to the time when light and dark spun in an endless dance of life. And so the circle of rebirth was reformed.

now
watch the flame
flickering
creating
shadows and light
on cool dry earth
beneath your bare feet
brushed with ribbons of
air dancing
with the music of the
waves
chanting to the heartbeat
of the drums
of life

Although chaos still holds power over the world, light and dark are growing stronger. Once more, life is held in respect and the earth is revered. Once more the ancient stories are being told, the stories that were passed from generation to generation. Death comes after life, and rebirth after death. Everything lives within this cycle. Chaos is outside this circle, this dance of light and dark, and everything it touches doubts the living truth. But life is strong once more, and will not give in to chaos. Light and dark will dance through the seasons and each generation will learn of the circle of rebirth. Chaos will lose hold of the world and once more life will reign!