WEBVTT 1 00:00:07.200 --> 00:00:16.239 Blow kilcum. Take a moment to settle in, adjust your pillow, 2 00:00:17.600 --> 00:00:23.039 let your shoulders drop. The day is behind you now, 3 00:00:23.640 --> 00:00:29.879 and nothing else is required. Tonight. We have a story 4 00:00:30.160 --> 00:00:35.439 about a lantern, A lantern that burns in a window, 5 00:00:36.240 --> 00:00:39.880 waiting for someone who may or may not be coming home. 6 00:00:41.200 --> 00:00:45.759 You are walking through a village at dusk. The streets 7 00:00:45.799 --> 00:00:51.280 are quiet. The houses are old, with stone walls and 8 00:00:51.399 --> 00:00:55.920 wooden doors and windows that glow with the soft light 9 00:00:56.119 --> 00:01:03.640 of evening. Smoke rises from chimney, thin and blue, carrying 10 00:01:03.679 --> 00:01:08.920 the scent of wood fires and cooking. A cat sits 11 00:01:09.079 --> 00:01:15.480 on a doorstep, watching you with calm, golden eyes. A 12 00:01:15.640 --> 00:01:22.200 dog barks once in the distance, then falls silent. You 13 00:01:22.280 --> 00:01:27.319 do not live here. You are passing through, following a 14 00:01:27.439 --> 00:01:32.680 road that winds through hills and valleys and small villages 15 00:01:32.879 --> 00:01:37.719 like this one. You have been walking since morning, and 16 00:01:37.799 --> 00:01:42.000 your legs are tired, and your mind is beginning to drift. 17 00:01:43.400 --> 00:01:47.439 You look up in the window of a house at 18 00:01:47.480 --> 00:01:51.680 the end of the street. There is a lantern. It 19 00:01:51.799 --> 00:01:56.040 hangs from a hook above the window, its glass panes, 20 00:01:56.200 --> 00:02:02.120 catching the last light of the sky. Inside, a candle burns. 21 00:02:03.280 --> 00:02:07.719 The flame is small and steady, a point of warm 22 00:02:07.879 --> 00:02:14.240 light in the gathering dark. The glass is clear, not colored, 23 00:02:15.240 --> 00:02:18.240 and the light it casts is the color of butter, 24 00:02:19.280 --> 00:02:25.240 of honey, of the first light of morning. You stop walking. 25 00:02:26.560 --> 00:02:29.280 You stand in the middle of the street and look 26 00:02:29.360 --> 00:02:34.759 at the lantern. It does not flicker, it does not waver. 27 00:02:36.159 --> 00:02:40.680 It simply burns, steady and sure, as if it has 28 00:02:40.719 --> 00:02:43.919 been burning for a long time, and will continue to 29 00:02:43.960 --> 00:02:48.520 burn long after you have passed. Something about it makes 30 00:02:48.520 --> 00:02:52.599 you feel safe. You walk toward the house. The door 31 00:02:52.680 --> 00:02:56.520 is made of wood, dark and heavy, with a brass handle, 32 00:02:56.680 --> 00:03:00.319 worn smooth by years of hands. There is a step 33 00:03:00.360 --> 00:03:04.039 in front of the door, a single stone step, and 34 00:03:04.120 --> 00:03:07.879 on the step a mat that says welcome. The mat 35 00:03:08.000 --> 00:03:11.080 is old and faded, but the word is still clear. 36 00:03:12.159 --> 00:03:15.680 You do not knock. You are not sure why, but 37 00:03:15.759 --> 00:03:19.599 you feel that knocking would be wrong. The lantern is 38 00:03:19.639 --> 00:03:24.560 not an invitation. It is a statement. It says some 39 00:03:24.719 --> 00:03:29.080 one is here, some one is keeping the light. Someone 40 00:03:29.159 --> 00:03:32.520 is watching over this house, and the street, and the 41 00:03:32.599 --> 00:03:37.599 village and all the quiet, sleeping things. You sit on 42 00:03:37.680 --> 00:03:41.719 the step. The stone is cool under you. The air 43 00:03:41.800 --> 00:03:44.879 smells of smoke and grass, and the faint sweetness of 44 00:03:44.960 --> 00:03:49.960 night flowers. The sky above is deep blue, almost black, 45 00:03:50.520 --> 00:03:54.639 and the first stars are appearing small and bright, like 46 00:03:54.680 --> 00:03:58.159 the lantern flame, like the candles and the windows of 47 00:03:58.199 --> 00:04:02.000 the other houses, like the scattered light of a world 48 00:04:02.120 --> 00:04:05.960 that is going to sleep. From inside the house, you 49 00:04:06.039 --> 00:04:11.560 hear a sound, a kettle whistling. The sound is soft, 50 00:04:12.080 --> 00:04:15.960 muffled by the walls, but you can hear it. It 51 00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:19.639 rises and falls, the way a kettle does when the 52 00:04:19.680 --> 00:04:24.720 water is just reaching its boil. Then it stops. There 53 00:04:24.800 --> 00:04:27.319 is the sound of a cup being set on a table, 54 00:04:27.879 --> 00:04:33.399 the clink of ceramic on wood. Then silence. Someone is 55 00:04:33.439 --> 00:04:38.319 in there, Someone is making tea. Someone is going about 56 00:04:38.600 --> 00:04:44.040 the quiet business of evening, of settling, of preparing for sleep. 57 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:49.439 You sit on the step and listen. The village is quiet, 58 00:04:50.199 --> 00:04:56.079 The lantern burns, the stars multiply. You think about the 59 00:04:56.120 --> 00:05:00.480 person inside the house. You do not know them, You 60 00:05:00.560 --> 00:05:03.800 do not know their name, or their age, or what 61 00:05:03.839 --> 00:05:06.839 they look like. But you know that they light the 62 00:05:06.920 --> 00:05:12.120 lantern every evening. You know that they make tea. You 63 00:05:12.240 --> 00:05:14.519 know that they sit in the warm light of their 64 00:05:14.600 --> 00:05:18.759 kitchen and watch the world go dark, and they are 65 00:05:18.800 --> 00:05:23.519 not afraid. Some people are like that. They carry their 66 00:05:23.560 --> 00:05:27.639 peace with them, like a lantern, like a flame that 67 00:05:27.759 --> 00:05:30.879 does not go out. They do not need the world 68 00:05:30.920 --> 00:05:34.680 to be quiet in order to be quiet. They do 69 00:05:34.720 --> 00:05:37.720 not need the world to be kind in order to 70 00:05:37.759 --> 00:05:42.399 be kind. They simply are the way. The lantern is 71 00:05:43.199 --> 00:05:46.560 the way, the candle is the way. The stars are. 72 00:05:47.600 --> 00:05:51.560 You lean back against the door. The wood is solid 73 00:05:51.600 --> 00:05:55.680 and warm. The lantern above you casts its light down, 74 00:05:56.480 --> 00:05:59.519 and you sit in it, a small figure in a 75 00:05:59.519 --> 00:06:04.360 small village, under a sky full of stars. You close 76 00:06:04.439 --> 00:06:08.800 your eyes. The light is on your face. The stone 77 00:06:08.959 --> 00:06:13.399 is cool beneath you. The air is still. You can 78 00:06:13.439 --> 00:06:15.959 hear the faint sound of the wind in the trees, 79 00:06:16.160 --> 00:06:19.560 at the constant hum of the world turning in its sleep. 80 00:06:20.439 --> 00:06:24.959 You breathe in, you breathe out. The lantern does not 81 00:06:25.120 --> 00:06:29.720 care who sees it. It does not burn for applause or recognition. 82 00:06:30.600 --> 00:06:34.279 It burns because it is a lantern, and that is 83 00:06:34.279 --> 00:06:38.439 what lanterns do. It burns for the traveler on the road, 84 00:06:39.199 --> 00:06:43.199 for the cat on the doorstep, for the stars above, 85 00:06:44.279 --> 00:06:47.879 for anyone who needs a light to walk toward. You 86 00:06:47.959 --> 00:06:52.199 are the traveler. The lantern is for you. You feel 87 00:06:52.240 --> 00:06:56.600 the tiredness in your legs soften, not disappear, but ease, 88 00:06:57.319 --> 00:07:01.120 the way a sore muscle eases under warm water. You 89 00:07:01.160 --> 00:07:05.000 feel the thoughts in your mind slow, not stop, but settle, 90 00:07:05.720 --> 00:07:10.360 like leaves falling gently to the ground. The village is asleep, 91 00:07:11.600 --> 00:07:16.399 the lantern is burning, the stars are bright. You do 92 00:07:16.439 --> 00:07:19.920 not need to move. You do not need to find 93 00:07:19.959 --> 00:07:22.720 a bed or a roof or a place to lay 94 00:07:22.759 --> 00:07:28.800 your head. This step, this light, this night is enough. 95 00:07:29.360 --> 00:07:33.040 The door behind you is solid, The lantern above you 96 00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:37.519 is warm, The sky above that is deep and endless 97 00:07:37.639 --> 00:07:42.040 and full of quiet light. You sleep. You sleep on 98 00:07:42.120 --> 00:07:44.560 the step of a house in a village you will 99 00:07:44.600 --> 00:07:48.519 not remember in the morning. You sleep under a lantern 100 00:07:48.600 --> 00:07:52.160 that burns for you and for everyone, and for no 101 00:07:52.199 --> 00:07:56.279 one at all. You sleep with the stars above and 102 00:07:56.360 --> 00:08:00.439 the stone beneath, and the quiet all around you like 103 00:08:00.480 --> 00:08:05.000 a gentle embrace. And when you wake, the lantern will 104 00:08:05.040 --> 00:08:09.120 still be burning, the village will still be quiet. The 105 00:08:09.279 --> 00:08:13.199 road will still be there, winding through the hills, leading 106 00:08:13.240 --> 00:08:17.439 you forward. But for now there is no road, There 107 00:08:17.480 --> 00:08:23.040 is no forward. There is only this, the light, the stone, 108 00:08:23.519 --> 00:08:27.439 the night, and you held gently in the middle of it. 109 00:08:27.480 --> 00:08:34.440 All safe and still and deeply, deeply rested. Sleep. Now 110 00:08:35.320 --> 00:08:40.000 the lantern is burning, the village is asleep, and you 111 00:08:40.080 --> 00:08:40.639 are home.