The Lantern Festival

    by Snipe

It gets dark early tonight
The Island gathers a nest of fog
and anticipates the evening ahead

For days
the children and hatchlings
excitedly rush about
helping to pour wax
to make the candles
to light tonight

The moment before
a held breath released
as bells ring
gongs roar
trumpets blast
the arrival of-

The Lantern Festival

Ten thousand candles
The Island ablaze in glittering stars
inside homes
and out
the children delight
as musicians play in the streets

Such color!
Such sound!
the children spin and dance
as the adults smile and
nod knowingly to one another

The excitement takes its toll-
the young ones become drowsy
as the music turns down tempo

Carried to bed
escorted to barn and roost

The candles are extinguished
The Island waits in silence
for the second half of
The Lantern Festival

The Elders meet
each presenting an ancient key
all needed to open the vault
and remove-

The Moonstone Lantern

There are over a dozen secreted away
throughout The Island
ancient relics
from The Islands earliest memory

Each is kept in a town
near a sacred site
on this night
the Moonstone Lanterns are taken
to these sites
and set within a carved niche

When the last is in place
the fog layer overhead parts
to allow the moonlight to fall
upon the Moonstones within
the lanterns

The lanterns glow Octarine,
a color that is seen differently
to each observer

Soon the whole sacred site
shimmers and glows

The Island Breathes Deep
the Moonstones energy
Renewed
until the next
Lantern Festival

On this night
the Islanders nourish
their home
as it has them all.

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