Strengths and Weaknesses

Florin would sometimes read for hours without any comprehension of what he had just read. At these moments he would surrender to his love of black coffee and thus go to retrieve water from the cloister well. Here, he would loiter under the colonnades hoping to catch a glimpse of Sister Leandra. Yet, even as he did so, he would hear the choir singing in the vestry and his mind would elevate to higher concepts. The meaning of life. The needless suffering born from poverty. Anything to take his mind off Sister Leandra and keep it aligned with his monastic life choice.

The evenings were harder. For where the stiles of his 17th century casement window had swollen, the lower sash would not fully close and, in winter, the frozen air entombed his bed. He could not sleep. His mind found no warmth in scripture. Instead, his mind was filled with the vision of Sister Leandra walking through the colonnade’s. 

Her gait was so delicate, like snow on the courtyard. The frost brushed moonlight peered into the cloister, casting angled shadows from the pillars. It was as if the firmament itself was reaching for this vibrant soul, unable to touch her. Unable to feel her snow pale skin. Only able to hear her robes brushing rime from the flagstones.

Before long, a chime would ring through the darkness. The call to Matins. Florin, realising he had overslept, would rise and scurry along the corridors to that first prayer of the day.

It was on New Years Eve morning, in the somnolent darkness, that he turned down the wrong corridor and ended up in the courtyard. Heavy eyed, Florin gazed at the floor until he saw the feet of Sister Leandra. Her star-like eyes gaped on seeing Florin and she dropped the bucket, soaking both their feet and the base of their cloaks.

Before God, before all the monks and sisters of the Abbey, they swore that nothing else happened. But, whilst believing in an incomprehensible power came naturally to this congregation, believing two souls with such unmistakable passion for each other, had kept their vows, was not so believable.

 

It is said, from that day onwards, the two gentle souls never parted. 

                    Copyright DMM 

                    Photo by: Photo by Sixteen Miles Out on Unsplash