I didn’t have much to tell him

I didn’t have much to tell him.

“I fought in the war,” I said. “I had a child. Though I have not watched him grow, for I was not well acquainted with his mother. Not properly, anyway. I fear I have disappointed you in not living a truly upright existence.”

He laughed. “As if I could tame you, Joss! You, creature of lightning and water and energy. Gods, if I could ever bottle but a fraction of your essence, or whatever it makes you what you are, I would be a king among men. You never have fit into my understanding of the world. Nor by Diana’s nor Mary’s law. You are utterly unique, and you opened my mind and understanding in a way I have never managed since. I will be forever mystified and grateful for that chance meeting we had, and the short time I counted you among my dearest.”

William Wordsworth to Joss Raddick, 1818. Watcher of the Skies