#dawn vigil

It had been an exceptionally long night in the remote land of Patadragonia, as it lay in the deep, deep south of the world and its shortest day was rapidly approaching… And Algy had spent many long, wakeful hours watching the full moon cross the sky and sink down again behind the mountains, while his little dragon friend slept peacefully by his side, apparently undisturbed by the dazzling moonlight.

For a while, when the moon had finally vanished, Algy managed to doze fitfully in the darkness, waking up from time to time to wonder how he would survive in this strange, cold land if the dragon were no longer there to keep him warm, for even in the depths of the night the fiery creature glowed with a modest green heat, which was sufficient to ward off the bitter cold of the Patadragonian plains.

But then finally, after what had seemed to Algy more like many days than many hours, the sky slowly began to change colour again, and in a matter of minutes the mountain tops had started to glow with the luminous pink and blue colours of the Patadragonian dawn.

As the light grew stronger, his little dragon friend stirred by his side and looked sleepily up at the colourful sky, and Algy murmured:

Still half asleep, I sought the hill and found
My vantage place, then stood a moment there
To probe the wind for some familiar sound;
But no vibration moved along the air,
And I learned nothing that I did not know
From the far east’s faint conglomerate glow.

I asked the stars, what destiny awaits
Beyond this dark incalculable night? …
And suddenly, incredibly, the gates
Of morning opened to approaching light;
Then, somewhere near, a bird began to sing —
And my heart heard the whole world listening.

[Algy is quoting the poem Dawn Vigil by the 20th century poet Carl John Bostelmann.]