The Maiden and the Knight

She sat high in her prison tower, pondering the situation,
surrounded by the harsh walls of her reality.
Would she stay forever imprisoned, or would she be relieved of her
burden?  The hawk circled for two days
now, bringing her the message that yes indeed, her knight in shining armor
would arrive soon to rescue her.  On the
third day, to her excitement, she heard the pounding of the horse’s hooves and
knew her mate had come to save her.  She
glanced outside of her window perched ever so high and was quite stunned at
what she was witnessing.  Yes, it was a
knight, but the armor was not at all shining and in fact showed signs of
rust.  How could this be?  She closed her eyes and reached out with her
heart and soul to discover that this was indeed her knight in shining
armor.  She called out to him, “you are
not quite the shining knight I saw in my vision so I shall nickname you “tin
Man”, for you are in need of an oil can.
Now if you would be so kind as to come up here and rescue your fair
maiden whereby we may ride off into the sunset and live happily ever
after”.  He was indeed so very handsome
she thought, rust and all and as he grinned up at her, his light shown for what
seemed miles around him.  Her heart began
to pick up speed and the heat increased.
To her shock and amazement his words cut deep into her heart and soul,
shattering her every being.  “I would
indeed so love to climb up there and rescue you my dear sweet beloved but alas,
I cannot”.  What? What was this?  The maiden yelled out, “Explain
yourself”.  “My dear sweet beloved, I am
instructed not to rescue you although it tears my heart and soul apart.  It is your quest to break free from your own
imprisonment.  You must rescue yourself
and set your soul free”.  This was not at
all the fairy tale told to her for years as a young woman growing up.  She was baffled at this.  The next thing she knew her Knight said. “I
now must take my leave of you my dear beloved for I have my own journey to
attend to and perhaps we shall meet up again one day”.  What the hell was this?  She had sat there waiting and praying on her
knight to come and rescue her and now her dream had vanished.  She will stay imprisoned and forever die of
loneliness she thought.  He blew her a
kiss, grinning ever so wickedly, and at that point she wished she had something
to throw at him!  The gall!  How dare he ride off and leave her this way,
with nothing left to hope for.  She felt
so abandoned, so very alone.  She heard
him singing ever so gallantly as he strode off with his horse.  Although infuriated with him, she had to
admit his voice was so melodious, so sweet, and so sensual it stayed with her,
soothing her very soul.

She allowed herself the anger, the rage, the frustration of
her sense of abandonment.  In the midst
of the anger, came an awakening.  The
awakening was of the magnitude of a huge rainbow which burst through after a
harsh storm, shedding joy and light and vivid colors across the sky!  “I will do this; I will show him and the
world that I can indeed free myself from these walls”.  She called upon inner strength of which she
never knew was inside of her.  Her
thoughts became a frenzied plan of accomplishment.  She went into a very deep meditation in which
to find the answer and the way out of her dilemma.  The realization came sudden, as fast as a
shooting star across the night.  She knew
then that she could do something that had always been available to her, but
remained hidden until her soul was ready.
The excitement was beyond describing, the rush of pure joy cascading
through every pore of her being.  She
prepared herself mentally, spiritually and emotionally.  This took some time although she knew the
outcome would be positive and her patience was needed.  When she was ready, she stood at the window
of the tower, the ground loomed ever so menacingly yet she was no longer
afraid.  She closed her eyes, breathing
in the dawn of the new day within her lungs, spread her wings, and flew.  The flight was effortless, filled with such
sheer ecstasy, feeling the wind in her face, as if merging with it.  The sky began to fill with the most
iridescent rainbow she had ever seen, along with birds soaring with it and the
melodious sound of angels’ voices singing.
The landing was smooth and touching down she felt light as a feather.  She looked up to where she had once been
imprisoned, the tall tower, the walls of concrete, the fortress of pain.  At that moment the walls of the tower
crumbled, crushing down all around and turned into a garden of roses and baby’s
breath.  She knew she had conquered
something

that took much courage and faith and patience.  Her soul sang with the knowledge that she rescued herself, a knowing that no one else could have done so but her. It was her choice and her path to do alone.  She danced along her path, moving forward and wondering what new journey would now await her. She sang a song of freedom and love and joy.   The birds joined in along with the animals of the woods.

.

Some time later she looked up ahead on her path and strained
her eyes to see what could it be.  As she
got closer, she saw him.  Oh my God!  How can this be?  But it was true, there he was, sitting on a large
rock and singing yet another melodious, sensual tune.  Her Knight!
But what is this?  No longer was
he rusty and needing oiled.  His armor
was shining and polished and glistened in the sun.  What had happened to him?  When he saw her approach, his smile had a
knowing look.  Their eyes connected and
somehow she knew the answer.  “My
beloved” he said,  “I wanted to rescue
you, this you must know but I knew I could not do so.  You had to do your own work and release
yourself from your prison.  I in turn had
my own work and journey to do while you had yours.  I have been waiting for you.  I knew you would persevere and break down the
walls of that fortress and come to me.” She then understood that his new
shining armor came as a result of his hard work, conquering his own burden, and
one he had to do alone, just as she had to do hers alone.  He came to her then, embraced her, gently
kissed the palms of her hands and said “You are a song of love”.  Once again reunited, the Maiden and her Knight
knew that no matter what came, they could conquer all.  Their separate journeys had proved this.  Together they would stay for all eternity,
loving, sharing, enduring and co creating together.  He helped her to mount onto the horse,
getting on behind her, arms around waist, holding her strongly.  She was comforted in his embrace, knowing no
harm could now ever befall her.  They
rode off into the sunset and lived happily ever after.