Legend

Thoughts take shape and wing,
telling stories out of time,
in a place where there was still mystery and wonder,
told by women sitting close to Byzantine fire.
Their children clutch at skirts
mother scented
and remember.
Each generation taking on a new facet,
each story woven into a tapestry of miracles.
There is blue smoke weaving around us,
telling and close
of those times
when there was still myth and innocence
in Byzantine fire.

~~ Catherine Gainey

Cover of "Byzantine Women and Their World"
Yale University Press