[WordFlower]: 689.Dancers

   The dancers danced.
   Gently across the grass they moved. Men and women there were, as well as children; tall, short, thin, stout, each knew and kept their place in the Dance. Some held wooden pipe-whistles to their lips; ghostly music whispered out and wound together in the night that was not cold and the fire that was not warm. In fluid motion with the breeze they wafted across the clearing, singing quietly with wolf and birdsong, lacing words into the music as skillfully as weavers at the loom.
   Unseeing and unseen, soldiers fought upon the field until blood soaked the ground and the shoes of the dancers. The soldiers died and were buried. New dancers joined the ring. Centuries brushed past, fox-fur against the hand of time. The forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green. Cold fire shimmered upon it, lighting the way for the dancers.
   Storms swept the forest; trees and grass and earth broke and tore. Time brushed. The forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green. Cold fire shimmered upon it, lighting the way for the dancers.
   Fire destroyed the forest. The dancers’ songs could not be heard above its roar. Rain fell; the fire died. The forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green. Cold fire shimmered upon it, lighting the way for the dancers.
   Men with axes and saws came and tore the forest away. No new trees grew. The grass was killed; buildings rose upon it and people lived and died upon it, and new dancers joined the ring. The buildings fell, and the people abandoned them; new dancers joined the ring. The forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green. Cold fire shimmered upon it, lighting the way for the dancers.
   But then the One Who Did Not Dance came to the circle. Come with me, He whispered without whispering. Come home.
   The dancers did not hear. The dancers did not see. The forest fell and rose and fell again, the grass grew green, and cold fire shimmered upon it, lighting the way for the dancers.
   Come with me. Come home.
   Time brushed past. The One Who Did Not Dance did not join the Dance. He was unmoved by time, also as the dancers were, and unmoved by the great strength of the world. The grass grew green, and He unflamed the fire, and the dancers danced with no light. The forest fell, and rose, and fell again, and the dancers danced with no light, and He did not join the Dance.
   Come with me. Come home.
   He silenced the flutes, and with no music they sang, but He did not sing. And the forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green, and no fire shimmered upon it, and the dancers danced and sang with no light and no music, and He did not sing, and He did not join the Dance.
   Come with me. Come home.
   The One Who Did Not Dance caused the voices to die, and with no song and no music they danced. And the forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green, and no fire shimmered upon it, and the dancers danced with no light and no music, and He did not sing and He did not join the Dance.
   Come with me. Come home.
   One dancer saw Him, and the dancer saw with new eyes and heard His commands, and came to Him. And the forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green, and no fire shimmered upon it, and the dancers danced with no light, and He and His follower did not join the Dance.
   Come with us. Come home.
   Many dancers saw them, and the dancers saw with new eyes and heard their commands, and came to them. And the forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green, and no fire shimmered upon it, and the dancers danced with no light, and He and His followers did not join the Dance.
   Come with us. Come home.
   One dancer remained, and the dancer did not see, and the dancer did not hear. The forest fell and rose and fell again, and the grass grew green, and no fire shimmered upon it, and the dancer danced with no light, and He and His followers did not join the Dance.
   COME WITH US, many voices whispered without whispering. COME HOME.
   The dancer saw, and the dancer saw with new eyes and heard their commands, and the dancer came to them and was welcomed. 
   COME WITH US. COME HOME.
   On wings of wind and cloud and sun the One Who Did Not Dance lifted away His children in His arms, and the One Who Did Not Dance spoke to them without speaking. Rest now, my children; as I said to you I came for you and have taken you home, and I did not abandon you when you would not hear me, nor when you would not see me, nor when you would not end the Dance. Rest now and be at peace, for I have ended your pain.
   And the dancers slept, and danced no more, for no more did they call to the One Who Did Not Dance, the one who would unbind them from the Fire and from the Dance.
And the forest rose and fell and rose again, and the grass grew green, and no fire shimmered upon it.
   The dancers slept.