“The Legend of Prester John”

“Perhaps the purpose of pilgrimage is to seek a great spiritual truth;

Search for protection, absolution, healing...

Too, there is the need for the magical...

Wander into the realm of the elusive mage king, Prester John.

Just like the Magi,

We are still in search for this magnificent bestiary, 

That sacred space between yesterday and tomorrow ,

The vast fantastical empire of Prester John,

Timeless, mysterious, immortal, supernatural, alchemical;

Land of enchanted creatures and river of Paradise;

Reputed to be located somewhere between 

The red plains of Africa and indigo mountains of Tibet

 Lies the legacy of the Beautiful Black Sheba

And the bleached bones of her beloved Solomon;

As under the ancient sands rest the reliquary of saints, 

The tomb of St. Thomas, with the long sought grail.

There is that medieval place of the magnificent conjureman, Prester John.

Not the John of Darkness,

The Baptist, Emperor, orThe Divine;

The Great, Popes I and III, not John Paul II,

Gaunt, Damascus, The Cross, King ( not a good man, was he);

Not even Brother John, or Burlington John..

Neither Revelating John  of the Seven Seals,

Nor Ole John Henry.

But the trickster kingman, Prester 

We keep looking for you, John...”

- Toni Truesdale

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