The avian civil wars showed no signs of age.<\/p>\n
Each battle was as fresh as its predecessor<\/p>\n
Of all wars, civil wars are the most bloody<\/p>\n
High causalities had been suffered on both sides<\/p>\n
In a corner of the aviary away from the conflict there ran a small river, shallow but with a fast flow and in this river stood the baptist<\/p>\n
He paid little attention to the wars even though the waters ran red on certain days. This colour was baptised to make it pure<\/p>\n
All colours were baptised to make them pure<\/p>\n
Except the colour mauve<\/p>\n
Dying birds, injured in battle came to him<\/p>\n
They feared their naked extinction<\/p>\n
All birds were baptised and soon they died studying their astronomy<\/p>\n
Their fossils began to stain the parched rocks which bore their eternity<\/p>\n
Future generations would study their fossils but not their wars<\/p>\n
The baptist was aware of this<\/p>\n
More colours were baptised<\/p>\n
More birds were baptised<\/p>\n
The war ended<\/p>\n
The persecutions began<\/p>\n
Refugees were now being baptised<\/p>\n
The baptist bathed their wounds and cleansed them as they were summoned into exile<\/p>\n
The leader of this terror was a bird named Archer Methuen<\/p>\n
He had three sisters<\/p>\n
They visited the baptist often<\/p>\n
But he did not purify them because of their mauve plumage<\/p>\n
They mocked him for this but returned again and again hoping to be purified<\/p>\n
\u201c Let your plumage turn to blue and you will be purified\u201d\u00a0 <\/i>was his instruction<\/p>\n
Archer Methuen grew tired of the baptist<\/p>\n
But the sisters protected him<\/p>\n
Two of the sisters escaped the aviary and flew close to the sun. Their plumage was bleached and they returned to baptist<\/p>\n
The baptist purified them and they left the aviary, this time never to return in order to spread their celebration<\/p>\n
The other sister visited the baptist but he would not purify her because of her plumage.<\/p>\n
She flew close to the sun but her colour did not fade<\/p>\n
\u201c Let your plumage turn to blue and you will be purified. You halt your own change \u201c <\/i><\/p>\n
The sister became angry with the baptist, in her temper she seduced her own brother<\/p>\n
They married<\/p>\n
On her wedding night Archer Methuen asked his bride to name her wedding gift<\/p>\n
\u201c That the baptist is slain\u201d <\/i>was her answer<\/p>\n
Her wish was granted and the baptist was weighed down with rocks and cast into the flow<\/p>\n
Soon the sister became heavy in her own production and she died giving birth to a grotesque<\/p>\n
In its first and only dream the grotesque was baptised<\/p>\n
As she died the sisters plumage turned to blue<\/p>\n
She had been forgiven<\/p>\n
The strength of the terror grew and for many years there was no opposition<\/p>\n
As his strength diminished Archer Methuen became troubled<\/p>\n
Primitive opposition had begun to emerge<\/p>\n
He visited the river to where the baptist once stood and to his surprise found him alive and well<\/p>\n
He accused him of being a ghost and ordered him imprisoned<\/p>\n
\u201c If I am a ghost you shall not imprison me. If I am of form then lock me away \u201c <\/i><\/p>\n
The baptist was imprisoned but returned the same day to baptise the oppressed<\/p>\n
Archer Methuen ordered his slaughter for a second time, but this order was ignored<\/p>\n
The civil war started again and Archer Methuen was killed in the first battle on the first day<\/p>\n
Peace returned to the aviary<\/p>\n
All birds flew in their own freedom<\/p>\n
The river of many colours began to dry up, its flow slowed to a trickle<\/p>\n
No baptisms took place as the baptist was no more. Those who came to be baptised only heard his voice distant but distinctive<\/p>\n
\u201c Baptise thyself my friends for I am not here and will not return. The waters may have dried but the air is pure, immerse yourself in its flow. Baptise thyself, you do not require my ministry\u201d\u00a0 <\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The avian civil wars showed no signs of age. Each battle was as fresh as its predecessor Of all wars, civil wars are the most bloody High causalities had been suffered on both sides In a corner of the aviary away from the conflict there ran a small river, shallow but with a fast flow […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=574"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/574\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/stuartmillerosborne.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}