Haunt of Thieves: part one
A refugee from apocalyptic war comes to a desolated country, where the only escape from the sport of its occupiers — who will hunt him with dogs — is a mountain pass, the haunt of thieves… They kill and plunder in their own right. Gafeidda debates his chances with the Shepherd, but cannot bring himself to trust the Shepherd.
I.
Haunt of Thieves
Part One
You see, Gafeidda, how the road climbs to the bend
How perilous and narrow
The way is, that the passer must hug the mountain’s face
At the crest, how the sun at its mid-day height
Becomes a torch splintered by horns of grey rock
The dark rock
(His strength is a piercing flame; our god is distant, and hears not our lamentation)
The Old-Spirited One, we call the cropping
A tree by lightning smote
The haunt of thieves
When night falls, Gafeidda, you will know
The glow of embers, even now—
You see the brazier’s smoke
If you remain, you will not return
Hunted Gafeidda, you will long to burn
Cross there, quarry of thieves
Or linger, and be torn by dogs
Gafeidda hears the wind
This change from deadened frost to biting cold
That has gained potency from the noon hour
Onwards
It cries, this wind, like a child
The Shepherd says aloud
(The meaning will unfold, gradually;
and all you’ve staked your life on will be
brought to mediocrity)
Now drawing frozen hands to lower once again
His hat brim, muffle this pinpricking rain
Away, Gafeidda thinks the dogs, far below, cry too
Caged and let starve for days
Only days enough to make them hunger
They will be loosed
Before the sun has set
Haunt of Thieves
Haunt of Thieves (part two)
(2016, Stephanie Foster)