Beneath the stars the darkness on the horizon transformed 
and the timid stars fled from the greater light. 
Far below the swells glinted in blue and white. 
We passed the curling waves crashing on the cliffs, 
flew over fields of cattle standing in lush pasture 
and forest so dense we saw only the spread of branch, 
always going inland, whilst the light like a single eye 
drew us onwards until time seemed to cease 
and we hovered above an ancient walled town 
from where, high on the spire of a grand cathedral,
the light unblinkingly shone like a grim guardian.  

The cathedral dwarfed its Lilliputian neighbors, 
ascending high into the sky, as if its builders 
were trying to breach the gap between heaven and earth.   
Tiny people wound through narrow streets 
and moved through the large cathedral square. 
Their superstitions rose up to me like a stench.  
I choked and gagged and Antoinette gripped me tightly.
I felt the cruelty and squalor of their lives, 
the paucity of their diet, the horror of their hygiene,
their vulnerability to pestilence and marauding armies, 
their superstitions and fear of eternal torment in unquenchable fire.  
That cathedral, with its spires and gargoyles, 
its great doors, the soaring, echoing magnitude of its vault, 
the magnificence of its conception, 
was their portal to dreams of heaven, the desperate hope 
that someday, somewhere, all would be well. 
 
We descended, unnoticed, into the square.
A surly, grim, disheveled crowd in fearful reverence  
parted like the Sea of Reeds when a small group 
of gorgeously robed ecclesiastics passed by. 
Their heads were high and chins raised. 
They looked neither to the right nor left. 
Their headpieces were emblazoned 
with the symbol of the single eye. 
Their silken gowns were vermillion 
and the centre of their flowing purple robes
the eye glowed in embroidered threads of gold. 

We walked down a narrow, cobbled lane. 
The crowded buildings, criss-crossed with timber, 
leaned inwards and loomed over the lane.
We were invisible to the scant crowd, 
moving against us, their heads cast downwards, 
as if bowed by some oppression of conscience 
and unhindered, we arrived at a smaller square, 
empty save for a last few stragglers.
In the middle of the square an almost spent fire smoldered. 
I gasped in horror. I turned to Antoinette. 
She put her finger to her lips.
Hush she said. Do not speak. 
For this I have brought you here.
Now sit and wait and listen.
My knees trembled and gave way. 
I dropped to the ground, barely daring to breath, 
and in fearful shock and agony, waited.