According to the shamans of London, the city is full of spirits. The dryads who live in the street lights, the Seven Sisters, Fat Rat and Blackout, being some classic examples. One of the most hallowed of these is a creature known sometimes as Greydawn, and more commonly as Our Lady of 4 a.m.. She is the guardian spirit who watches over the midnight workers of the city of London – the cleaners, the security guards, the late-night receptionists who sit up between the hours of 11 a.m. and 6.30 a.m. playing solitaire on computers in empty foyers of sleeping office blocks. She is almost never seen, unless a gust of wind catches the newspapers blowing through the streets and for a moment, their shape defines a physical form, but the lonely travellers heading home as dawn breaks through the empty streets of the city swear that she is with them, watching over them when nothing else moves. She is said to be a gate-keeper, separating out the nightmares of a lonely night from the calm moment at 4 a.m. when the entire city is silent and at peace.
Of course, the only problem being, that if you need someone to keep a gate, there’s usually something nasty waiting on the other side.
3 comments
AdrianH says:
June 11, 2010 at 10:00 pm (UTC 1 )
What a lovely thought, I would hope that as an urban spirit, she, or perhaps her sisters are to be found wherever there are streets and buildings and people living and working in them. I’d like to think so.
simon says:
June 20, 2010 at 9:39 am (UTC 1 )
I think the lady should have a shrine
AdrianH says:
June 23, 2010 at 9:22 am (UTC 1 )
“I think the lady should have a shrine”
Good idea, love the thought of that.