THE IN-BETWEEN WORLD

An Offering from a Friend of the Realm

Day 196 of the 5th Age

Among the letters and offerings that find their way to the Guild: some arrive bearing news; others carry stories, observations, or fragments of the Viridian Realm as seen and experienced by its Flame-Bearers.

This poem was submitted to the Guild's Master Archivist by Tania du Toit, a friend of the Realm.  We thought it deserved a place in the Chronicle.

The In-between World 

There exists a place in the hearts of dreamers,
Where the dimming of day surrenders to dusk,
And the luminous world of light dissolves
Into the quiet enchantment of night.

There is a sacred moment, a hush between breaths,
A pause amidst the tides of the past and present,
Where we slip between the hallowed folds of time,
Into the worn spines of old books and pages well-read.

Smoky scent of ink and paper, warm honeyed wine ~
A world that gathers us, gently steals us away,
Bearing heart and mind along a journey of the senses
Through stories that shape and stir the soul.

Weavers of tales and keepers of magic,
Speakers of beauty, devoted to the written word ~
There lies a place where our minds may wander,
Where Fire and Forge open the gateway to The Realm.

This in-between world, sanctuary of the Flame,
Where pilgrim hearts bow to offer devotion,
To art, to wonder, to all things sublime ~
We come to rest here, at home in the Guild’s embrace.

— By Tania du Toit, Protector of Gateways & Bearer of the Flame.