Life.  That single word filled her mind as they left the gloom of the woods and broke into the clearing.  The vitality of the green ached in her eyes and the air was heavy with the smell of growth.  The grass grew as high as a man's knees and the reeds on the other side of the river would reach to his chest.  The knobby bark trunks of the trees grew straight and true, their bases thickening to draw more life from the river.  The river itself was a sea of green, the water obscured by the plants growing on the surface.  It was so lush a faithful man might even be able to walk on water here.  It was a wild place, a primal place, a living place, the perfect place for their ceremony.

Copyright © 2010 Denise Duggan