God of the Unsaid
I’ll make you a cup of tea while you stretch out and clear your eyes, shall I? No milk or sugar I take it, owls are sweet enough already, aren't they? oh yes, I guess that's quite an old one, hah! There you go… I’ll leave it juuuust here. Now, me, I couldn’t possibly go without milk, mind you my friend Thomas, wonderful fellow, he had big bushy eyebrows just like yours. He used to say that even tea tastes different for owls. No matter, we can both appreciate a nice, warm tummy at least. There we go. Now, I’m sorry… I can’t stay long, and I may never see you again, so I’ll explain everything as caaarefully as I can. Ah, and, err, admittedly I don’t have all the details… Anywhoo.
All that we ask of you is to have a go at lighting the candles. That's it, that’s the whole shebang. Strange I know, but I guess I don’t know of another actually. Oh, if you find your candle unlit without another one to pass the flame, then pick up this matchbox. Place it somewhere out in the open, like on this altar here. Try to fly into the side of it and use your beak to push the matches from the slide. Shall we see if you can do it? Ohhh, so close. Have another… YES! There you are. Very good, you’ll be teaching us all soon! Now, pluck out a match with those teeny talons. Oh no... You're right, I guess they are for your age… yes, just like that. Drag the match against the rough side of the box. Crackle. Fizz. Ahh… yes. Now there's no shame in needing a second match, but right now there is no second match. You won’t know if you can do it without giving it a go. You’re doing marvellously. Light the candle by lifting the flame to the wick and hold. Then wave away the flame from the match under your nose because Oh! lor-day, that smell is good. Bury the match into this pot of sand, don’t worry, it’ll come up again when you need it, I promise. Oh but don’t let that match go out for a second-dah. Agh... yep. I’m just going to use it to light my pipe… thhhh... Ah… Yes, thank you. Puff. Puff.
Oh? Oh, those are just the shadows from the candle, no need to be alarmed, they can’t hurt you. I still get spooked by them myself sometimes. Haha! It's why I’m often found laughing alone in the catacombs, mind you I always seem to laugh more with friends. Cough. Cough. Whe, sorry coUgh. My apologies. When this room was fir-st made, all the candles were off the shelves in the middle of the room. Mainly to avoid their robes getting too warm after leaning over them so closely. We had a little pupper come through and the poor darling, she spent the entire afternoon barking in here. Oh, she was a hoot! Scrambling around the room with a mad look in her eye then judder to a stop with all her legs fully outstretched like this - AAHH!… as if she’d seen a ghast. It took us a couple of hours to work out what she was barking at. We tried all night to teach her about shadows, but we didn’t manage to, eerm… fully express ourselves. Uuh. I held my hand between the candle and the floor then gradually lifted my hand away to show the shadow extending. She looked at me like I had summoned Scythian spawn to attack her! And… alas, despite our best, she never got it in the end, just seemed to learn to live with them, which is more impressive come to think of it. Puff. Puff. Cough. Between us, I’m not sure all of her pistons were firing but it makes no difference to me, I adore all the initiates. Who couldn’t?
Anyway, where were we? Oh, of course, three things to remember. One, for the candle, or match, yes that’s right, to be lit. Two, connect the flame to the unlit wick. Three, wait for the flame to take. Be careful here, steady, if the flame starts to waver, so will you. When the flame flickers, breathe in slowly but don’t stop breathing. Done. Oh my, you make it look easy.
We haven’t got much longer so I’ll run through the rest my dear. Light a candle for the next person if yours is already lit. The words of prayer are your own, so choose from ones you’ll never want to hear again. Chant it but listen for the echoes and repeat to resonate. Now, when it's time, check the matchbox. If there are more matches in there than you remember, then it's time to say goodbye. If there are fewer than you recall then begin again. If the box is empty, close it gently and leave it next to the second candle.
Puff. Puff. But it’s not all the tears of Sisyphus, there's supposed to be another owl arriving soon, we all need a friend after all. I do hope this little temple is alright for you. I consider myself quite lucky to have started my life here. My father woke up in a quarry with a pickaxe! Could you believe that? He used to speak about the endless hours waiting for his shoulder to dislocate, I cou- I just… Anyway, It happened to him once up in the quarry where nobody could reach him. He had to throw his arm down with the other like this to put it back in place. And he did it! The mad old coot. Puff. Puff. He collected rubble in a bucket tied to his chest and threw bits of iron into a metal barrel on his back. The more work they did, the heavier it got. Clang! Clang! Clang! all day long. It makes you think, doesn’t it? It could have been much worse. Puff. Puff.
I’m grateful for this place. A lot has been done here... we owe a fair bit. Sure, it’s a nightmare to heat but it keeps the wind out. There are plenty of animals around to have a good laugh with. I can count on you to give the new ones a few pointers if you run into them, can’t I? And erm, well, and so, this talk has meant a lot to me… Thank you. Anyway dear fellow, just remember to turn the lights on before you leave. Pat. Pat. Pat. Goodbye, little owl.