The Battles and the Wars
Little tribute will be paid to these topics. Enough has been chronicled about the loss of life and the general horrors of battle. It is no more. The lessons have been learned. To reflect any more would pay an undeserved honour to the idea of conquest. Of rampage. Of burned out lives ruined forever.
Instead let us share the moments in between and pay our focus here. The moments of reunion. Of complete and utter joy at the return of loved ones from months and years on the road far too far away from home.
The image of the men returning by ship. Grand vessels sailing across turquoise waters to the rocky precipice and sandy beaches and safe harbours of loved ones. The healing. The grace. The gratitude. The feasts and parties and long, long embraces.
The aging women. Nearly broken with grief and longing, with crooked shoulders bent over pots in wait for a son or even husband. Stews prepared daily for the inevitable return. The young mother with a new young son, greeting her husband as he lofts his heir into the sky with joyful play, delighted to meet this new one.
And daughters, on hearing the news of the return of fleets, gather daisies and violas and pink roses, creating wreaths twined with ivy to decorate the doors for the festive reunions. Of barrels opened and casks opened and fires far and wide roasting deer and mutton and perhaps even that cranky old ox that refused the plow for the last time.
Of music. Oh the music! Lute and lyre. Harp and drum. The tambourines. Of poets reveling in the coins granted to write of the returning heroes. Music into the night and morning. Dancing of old and young. Hand in hand, arm in arm, swinging and trotting to the beats ringing throughout the place.
And days later when the reverie slows, the families begin to fall into the old routines. The injured, healing quietly in the care of their own. The fallen remembered with love and tenderness in honour of their far away graves.
And weeks later, after seeds are planted and all are tended to, it is the moment to move forward. Plans made. Ideas fermented. Families and friends and neighbors safe and satisfied for the moment.
These are the moments to remember. The moments in between the wars. To give honour to those who tended the hearths while the warriors were gone. To give gratitude for those who returned. And to carve memorials to those who did not.
Copyright 2023 - Terran Cognito
