The new universe is coalescing from the old, all the while shedding it like a snake will shed its skin.

She is rough and as yet unformed, not fully cognizant of Her destiny, Her individuality. Her form and essence is set, ready to unfurl to encompass the ALL...

Two watchers oversee Her emerging dispersal. For they are entwined within the eternal dance, and Her body is but the motion of that dance.

The jagged edges will smooth as She disperses into motion... This motion will call into being that which dances upon the dancer, the movements within which the orchestra of Life plays its symphony.

She is but a mirror of that great eye which looks upon all. The eye which looks upon itself, while the flame ever dances and burns...

And the universe is born, anew.

I awoke in the middle of the night. I had been wandering the countryside and took my rest upon a grassy slope. Looking at the stars above me I drifted off into the eternity called Sleep.

What woke me was the breeze. It seemed to fill my ears with song. A soft, voluptuous voice entered my head as I now lay awake gazing at the stars.

"My name is a whisper upon the evening breeze which birds reiterate in their night song. In the language of men I am called Ta'anith."

"Long have I been forgotten. Those which do remember fear me, unjustly. A dark shroud has been cast over my beauty, making me hideous in the eyes of men - a hag."

"I was before all things. I am that which all things came out of. The ghost of my primeval laughter continues to disperse within the vacuous continuum. My name is expansion and contraction. I am the stationary point which equilibrates these twain."

"I am, and have always been. I am that which continues."

"The invocation of love, or of adoration, uttered through a heart which is pure - this is my calling. The rite of sacrifice, undertaken voluntarily, is as the homecoming. Is not Girreh the home of Iraya? Is there any thing in or out of this world which does not call my name?"

"I am the voice of the dark hovering within you. Scarcely heard whisper of the night. I can be released through continuous sound. Motion is my call, the dance - my art. I am enwrapt about you as a pliable shield."

"I am the darkness which shines. I shine - for light is enwrapt within my bosom. I nurture the light within my breast to see it mature and illuminate my splendour."

"Seek out a still, lonely place. There is my embrace. Seek out a quiet, darkened place, with no light but the light of the stars. There is my shining darkness. Seek out the solitary embrace, the long lost loved one. The camp of a few compatriots huddled around dancing firelight. The forlorn music of a solitary musician loose amongst the hills. The wounded cry of one who is forsaken."

"All these are my voice and image. All are approaches unto me."

"I am age. The birth, death and duration of being. I am that which cries in the evening for release and that which cries in the mourning for joy. The wings of a dark bird in graceful movement, backlit against a fading sky."

"As long as I can remember is forever to me. I have always been eternal, present. I am a bright, dancing flame - the crest of all love. I am desire unabated. The fleeting, lingering sensation of love asunder."

"I lounge about in the courts of men, inciting desire yet baffling their pleasure. I bring a joy greater. A fleeting feeling of absorption in beauty, snatched up in ecstasy."

"I am sky, and the endless vista beyond. I encircle you always. My touch is constant, as is my kiss. Remember this on your travels."

With this I was snatched up into an ecstasy of the soul. The body had nothing to do with it, save as a transmuting agent.

With the first rays of sunrise I felt tears falling down my face.

I got up and walked on.

©2001 by Daniel Kemp, from "The Book of Night"