myth for virginia spiderwort

A peasant believed they had a god. They worked every day of their life from the time they could hold a string, walk a straight line or focus their eyes. When they saw a god they were twelve and knew the world as a hard place with little reprieve.

After the peasant saw a god their dreams became ruptured with image from realities they had never known - like looking at broken mirrors. This is what it’s like to see a god. This is what it’s like to see impossible things. Everything else broke as a result.

After a day bringing the sheep to pasture and back again, their grandmother sat on her wooden chair, which was the only one that her old body would suffer anymore. There was one pillow on the seat and the back was straight as an arrow. Her grandchild lay on the floor, tired, but unable to move from the rug to the bed at the far corner.

“I have seen a god” the peasant kept saying. Their grandmother snorted and spit into a cup that at one time in the evening held tea. She was getting sick of her grandchild saying this, but at the same time she felt for them. She, herself, had never seen a god, but she had known people who had and they lived their whole lives struggling with what to make of what they had seen. Some disappeared altogether, whispering the miracles they had witnessed but were unable to weave into their lives in a meaningful way.

The grandmother would help her poor grandchild out of the loop they had gotten into. She heaved herself up and went out into the cool night. She didn’t need anything more than the half moon’s light to bring her to the clearing to the west of the cottage where she gathered spiderwort.

“Make me a salad!” She commanded, and threw the plants on the peasant. As soon as the spiderwort hit their eyes they believed spiders were crawling on their face. In fact the peasant began to see a small hint of magic in everything around them. They believed, in that moment, not only in the god they had seen, but in the magic of all things. The god was infused in every moment. The flowers were flowers and spiders at the same time and that made sense. The peasant took a step and even though their pants were frayed and their socks were torn, it might as well have been the step of a king. This changed the rest of the peasant’s life. Perhaps you have heard of this person. Even to this day.