Mīkhāʼīl - In Her Feminine Sign

Dream is male. Wish is female. Feminine words are followed by a circle with two dots over it. They call this symbol the tied circle, knotted with wishes which come true only when forgotten or replaced by the wishes of others. In the town of tied wishes people feel great anticipation because a stranger will arrive today in her feminine sign. So scary, he says, how the moonhides in her red circle. Everyone is busy today listing wishes on pieces of paper theyll give to the wind. So scary, he says, how the moonhides in her red circle. Everyone is busy today listing wishes on pieces of paper theyll give to the wind.

When the stranger finds them on her way, shell collect them and adorn them to her circle, tossing off some old wishes to make space for the new. They say the dropped ones will come true. The strangers lateness worries those who wait. Someone says shes searching for a word to complete a special sentence, the gift shell bring to town. Another wonders if she seeks a verb or a noun, and offers to find her. A third warns that the stranger may turn him, with one touch, into a flower that blooms for only an instant before it withers and dies, her circle throbbing with songs that cause sadness and elation and something so obscure no one has a name for it.

Will she complete a verb or a noun phraseor go solo, a word complete on its own? They wonder. When they finally hear footsteps, they know the stranger must be near. Make sure the gate is open, they remind one another. They hear clinking A bracelet? A chain?