The Book of the Watchful Joy

1:1 ¶ And upon a hill at the edge of a dark age, three watchers kept the last watch of the night; and they were ordinary creatures, and knew it: a baker who could not sleep, a widow who never could, and a young man sent up because he was strong and had nowhere else to be. And their post was not to fight but to see: to be the first to recognize the light when it came, and to say so aloud, that the city below might wake without terror.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 1:1

1:2 ¶ And the watch was cold, and long, and mostly uneventful; and two of them argued gently whether the dawn would come at all, and the third said, That is not our question; our question is only, Will we see it? And the arguing was their watchfulness, and the watchfulness was not fear, and the difference was the whole of their post.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 1:2

1:3 ¶ And the widow said, I have kept this watch thirty years, and I have seen the dawn fail none of its mornings; but I do not watch because I doubt the sun, and I do not watch because I fear the dark; I watch because the light cometh to those who see it, and it is a shame to sleep through the morning of the world.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 1:3

1:4 ¶ And the book confesseth: the watch is kept for the dawn's sake and not the enemy's; and the watcher that watcheth for the enemy hath already given the night its victory, and the watcher that watcheth for the morning keepeth joy in the dark, and the joy is the watch's own light. For it is written, Watch therefore: for ye know not what hour your Lord doth come.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 1:4

2:1 ¶ And below the hill the city kept its own watch of a different kind: watchers who looked for enemies and not for dawns, sentinels at every lamp; and the city's law was that any light not licensed was a signal of conspiracy. And the city's watch was not idle, neither were its watchers fools; they had guarded the city through a very dark age, and their guarding had a history.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 2:1

2:2 ¶ And the city taught its children that every brightness must be explained; and the explaining trained the people to fear the morning. And when the true dawn came, the city's watchers reported it as an unsanctioned light, and the bell was rung against it; and the bell was rung in good faith, and the good faith was the whole of the city's wound.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 2:2

2:3 ¶ And the three upon the hill heard the alarm rising from the streets, and understood the poverty of their age: the city feared every light, and its fear was not a lie exactly; for the city had been wounded once by lights in the dark, and its wound now ruled its eyes. And the book saith of the city what the elders said of the wounded: the fear was learned in a breach, and the learned fear is not the same as cowardice.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 2:3

2:4 ¶ And the book confesseth the temptation of the watchful, which is this: to let the dark define the work, and to call the fear of the enemy vigilance, and the vigilance fear, until the watcher cannot tell the two. But the elders have the word against it: In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world. And the cheer is not the tribulation's absence, but the tribulation's limitation.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 2:4

3:1 ¶ And the first answer of the watchers was a lamp: the baker's own watch-lamp, set upon the hill for the whole city to see, with no signal in it and no code, a light that meant only that someone was awake. And the city's watchers demanded its meaning, and the baker gave them none; and the light burned, and its burning was its meaning, and the city had no column for a light that meant nothing but itself.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 3:1

3:2 ¶ And the second answer was a name: for the widow knew the name of the young man sent up with them, and the city's watch had never learned it, for it numbered him and knew him not. And she spake to him by name in the dark, and said, When the city calleth thee by number, remember thou hast a name that a watcher spake in the dark; and the name was a light also, and it was kindled by no oil.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 3:2

3:3 ¶ And the third answer was a song: the young man sang, softly, badly, the only song he knew; and he sang it before the morning and not after it. And the song had no victory in it and no prophecy; and the singing was the answer, for it said that the night was not the only thing awake. And the elders' word was in the song without his knowing: weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 3:3

3:4 ¶ And the book confesseth: joy is not the disappearance of danger, and not the promise of winning; it is the refusal to let danger name everything. For the watchers held the joy already, in the dark, before any sign of the morning; and they gave thanks in the night, as the elders give thanks in all things, and the thanks was not a lie about the dark, but a true word about the light.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 3:4

4:1 ¶ And the dawn came, and it was not dramatic: gray, then gold; and the city below rang no bell for it, for the city's bells were made for alarms and not for mornings. So the watchers did the small work of waking the city themselves; and they went down the hill, and knocked on doors, and said the plain sentence their post was made for: It is morning, and the light is not a signal; rise, and keep the day.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 4:1

4:2 ¶ And the city, slowly, learned the difference between a lamp and a signal; and some kept the lesson and some forgot it by evening, and the book recordeth both, for the book is no flatterer of cities. And it is written of the servant found at his work: Blessed is that servant, whom his lord when he cometh shall find so doing; and the watchers were found watching, and the finding was the blessing.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 4:2

4:3 ¶ And the baker set a table in the watch-room before the next watch, and not after it, with bread for the watchers coming and going; for the watch belongeth to no one, and bread belongeth to everyone. And the widow said of the table: A table set in darkness is already the morning's promise; and the promise was kept, and the promise was eaten, and the two were one.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 4:3

4:4 ¶ And the watch goeth on, because the watch always goeth on; and the joy waiteth no longer for the dawn, because the joy was the watch's own light. And the next watch beginneth as this one began: with one asking not whether the morning will come, but whether we shall see it, and one answering, Watch with me. And the book saith no more of it, for the morning is not a reward and the night is not a punishment, and the watchers are not the light, but they are the ones who see it.

THE BOOK OF THE WATCHFUL JOY 4:4