THE SINGING TOWER

(A brief breath of Cort and Rachel inspired by this picture)

By Sharon Ferguson

If he was lost, he forgot all sense of it now, emerging from the enclave of azaleas and towering pines to a scene so vibrant with color and shade, he thought he must have stepped inside the color plate of a faery-tale book. The drift of trees and pink flowers speckled the surface of the pond, marring the tower that stretched toward him, mottled by time and winds...no, the greensward cut the tower in two and propped its opposing base up against the sky, a wall where blue persisted instead of chameleon waters.

A wisp of wind brushed past him, ruffling his hair, and then paused, as if husbanding a breath of joy, everything settling still in anticipation. The golden door opened and she stepped down onto the greensward, her brilliant blue dress a piece of the sky astray, a fragment to speckle the dividing line. He breathed out the waiting joy, for his love had found the mirror entrance. There was no mistaking that she saw him, for she came to the water's edge to greet him, a goblet in one hand, a sword in the other; and so it was he knew, knew it as sure as the sky above: they had won.

Then, the tower itself began to sing.

Bok Tower - Florida (link for information)

BACK TO LIBRISCROWE