Page 21 of The Moonstone Hero
“I suppose. Have you ever read Shelley’s poem, ‘Love’s Philosophy’?”
He shook his head. “No. This may shock you, but I am not a very romantic fellow. I do not have a poetic soul.”
“You don’t say? I never would have guessed.” She emitted a trill of laughter as she reached into the basket and withdrew a book of poetry. “When you first arrived, I was going to read you ‘Ozymandias,’ because I thought you were so arrogant and impossibly full of yourself. I wanted to give you a light kick and remind you that no matter how exalted we believe we are, we all turn to dust in the end. Same dust, whether king or pauper. But I think now you are worthy of the other poem. It isn’t long. I’ll read it to you now. For me, it is a perfect description of Moonstone Landing, a place so beautiful that one simply has to find true love here.”
“Ella, you can find love anywhere. You just have to keep your eyes open to see it when it comes upon you.”
She shook her head. “No, I know it must be here.”
“All right, be stubborn about it.” But he found himself smiling anyway because she was so inexperienced and yet so certain of how love should be for her. “Go on, read it to me.”
She cleared her throat and began. He closed his eyes and allowed the melodic lilt of her voice to wash over him like a healing balm. Finding her here had been such a relief for him—to see her innocent face, look upon her radiance, and know he still had a chance with her.
Hope still existed amid the greed and carnage.
That carnage.
So senseless.
So brutal.
And yet he had survived when no one else had…all for an act of kindness.What goes around comes around.This was an adage he had heard as a boy, and never appreciated it as much as he had that day of battle.
It wasn’t much of a battle, more of a bloodbath, for he had been sent off in command of a few hundred men to subdue Ashanti warriors numbering in the thousands. More than ten thousand had been waiting for him and his men. As it turned out, an unnecessary fight, one instigated by the corrupt territorial governor, Fulke.
Caden would kill that man on sight if he ever saw him on a London street.
He hoped the Ashanti had gotten their hands on that spineless weasel and dispatched him with the same brutality as they had dispatched his men. Was it wrong to wish that suffering on any man? Well, if that thought prevented him from getting into heaven, so be it. Some men deserved a hideous death.
He shook out of his thoughts as Ella touched his arm. “Caden, where did you disappear to just now? Are you all right?”
He nodded. “Sorry. Go ahead, read me your poem again.”
She began with the first lines, her voice as soft as that of an angel.
The fountains mingle with the rivers
And the rivers with the ocean…
It was a poem about the beauty of the earth. If only he could feel this way, but he only saw death and destruction whenever he closed his eyes. And when he opened them, he saw the faces of those greedy lords who thought their wealth mattered more than the lives of simple, honest men who were duped and believed they were fighting for an honorable cause, protecting king and country.
See the mountains kiss high heaven
And the waves clasp one another;
Ah, there were such places of wonder. He recalled the wild, rough seas along the coast of West Africa and the majesty of the distant mountains. One found beauty in its rawest form there. But here in Cornwall, it was a gentler beauty. He’d spent the morning looking out his window as he practiced walking and moving his stiff limbs. The sea was calm and glistening. The hospital was built on a small promontory, a rocky ledge overlooking the harbor. Perhaps he would have Ella show him around Moonstone Landing once he was back on his feet.
And the sunlight clasps the earth
And the moonbeams kiss the sea:
What is all this sweet work worth
If thou kiss not me?
Yes, he needed to give Ella another kiss.
She set the book on the side table and studied him. “Well, what do you think?”
