head before us.

We had never thought of that which we did.
We bent to raise the Golden One to their feet,
but when we touched them, it was as if madness
had stricken us. We seized their body
and we pressed our lips to theirs.
The Golden One breathed once,
and their breath was a moan,
and then their arms closed around us.

We stood together for a long time.
And we were frightened that we had lived
for twenty-one years and had never known
what joy is possible to men.

Then we said:

"Our dearest one. Fear nothing of the forest.
There is no danger in solitude. We have
no need of our brothers. Let us forget
their good and our evil, let us forget
all things save that we are together
and that there is joy as a bond between us.
Give us your hand. Look ahead. It is our
own world, Golden One, a strange,
unknown world, but our own."

Then we walked on into the forest, their
hand in ours.