The Earth is Lying

I once considered the Earth my mother. A caregiver whose tenderness yielded up the bounties that sustain her many children across the long nights and turn of seasons. But I know now that I was deceived. For the Earth’s bounties have come with a terrible cost. In recompense for all she has given me these long years, she has demanded all that I held dear. Like thieves in the night, her most perverse and terrifying creations – those who wear the form of man, but whose flesh is formed from bark and bramble – stole into our home with craven intent. And from their beds they dragged my family off to some wretched doom beyond comprehending. To this day their fate remains a mystery, so it seems not even the long kiss of immortality has the power to return them to me. How could a mother be so cruel? Did I raise up my children so that, when they were grown, I could strip from them that which they held most precious. Never could I consider such a thing! I know now that nature is a witch. A demon in the night. A cruel, inhuman thing that understand neither love nor mercy. And so I shall fight with all my dying breath to keep its grasp from the hearts of my brothers and sisters, that they may be spared the pain and longing that so haunt my dreams and waking thoughts. -Eva Gowering