night sky on Hindu Kush

 night sky on Hindu Kush

fiction

edward w pritchard

a Greek soldier far from home, a soldier for pay following Alexander the Great

viewing the night sky on the top pass of the Hindu Kush

night guard duty, no blanket, no camp fires for fellow sleeping soldiers, half a mile away

listening carefully for Bessus' warriors, clutching his sword, peering up at one billion stars

shivering, home permanently forgotten, legs aching, sadness of mind, 

ponders his future, why hasn't he been killed yet in a dozen battles

hungry, dinner skipped raw horse meat again

no one to remember, no one to forget

seven hours to dawn, one trillion stars rotate across sky

battle soon then on to India, more foreigners

where is his old friend The Moon, he wants to ask  

" How many  battles until it is over for me" 

another Mystic

 another Mystic

fiction

edward w pritchard

Oddness he said is a contrivance. Unusual he looked as he whispered " I am an archetype from your future", who doesn't do dialogue properly. 

Standing in the kitchen, I watched him sitting on my deck at 2:30 AM  in the darkened rear yard, me peering through the broken deck doors that wouldn't slide enough to open. I could hear every word he said although he spoke with a heavy accent and not in our language. Automatically I could enough understand later what he was whispering, to ruminate to recall the main ideas. 

These thoughts are on one in a million, of Mothers and lonely women, he spoke. He was talking to me I saw through the darkness. Are you St John of the cross I whispered?

Laughing he stood up. No, not is I, sayeth he. He was less than five feet tall, a diminutive man with tinted pinkish hair and  cauliflower ears. Not me is the mystic he repeated. I am but a spinner of useless information from your future. Continuing, sitting down in the Darkness, he said too loudly, Don't  predict the past, him disappearing from memory. 

Standing there a long time, I waited for the stars to reappear.  

Shah Jahan on house arrest

 Shah Jahan on house arrest

fiction

edward w pritchard

 It's always been important to me to try to ascertain if the Mogul ruler Shah Jahan while under house arrest after being ousted from ruling by his son was able to see the full Moon a few days a month from his place of incarceration. 

Folk history says Shah Jahan who built the Taj Mahal for his endeared deceased wife was able to look at the Taj the most beautiful building ever built for the eight years he was imprisoned in India until he finally died as we all do. Broken hearted to be sure despite his earlier triumphs. 

The news papers hint that our Country's ex President may soon be convicted and perhaps under house arrest. 

Myself, my room overlooks an Eastern sky containing a majestic full Moon several nights a month. About a hundred steps from my front door is a serene Lake that often contains the reflection of the Full Moon if an observer is present to see it.  

How many eyes have gazed upon the Full Moon and reflected upon the systematic passing of Time?