All The Green World Was Theirs (Paige McRae - New Orleans, LA)

I grew up in a world of nature’s colors, from the brown and yellow of a fallow

field to a verdant green. Green to me also came to represent the full power of

nature, a green candle or the glow of an eerie light. I could see the green cast on

my mother’s skin as she performed a ritual of union with my father,

Father was descended from the stags, and it is him that I resemble the most.

Mother was part wild mare. The two of them were a towering couple, as if all the

green world were theirs.

I, a young fawn, was nestled under the dolmen, where twilight was just starting to

gleam. My parents brought me here to be tested, as a rite of passage, for it was the

plan that I should one day take their place. It is here, encircled in the green, with

the rising mist of the May dawn, my parents consummated their spell.

“By the touch of hands, we create the fire of our sacred union.”