Free Writing with Stardust: The Ultimate Descriptive Guide for students, parents, teachers and writers by Desconhecido

trees. There was feng-shui perfection to the scene, while the water was gilded with moonlight-pale lilies. Plip-plopping fish caused concentric rings to puff out and disappear as the air hummed all around us. A phalanx of flies was patrolling the water’s edge, called into service by the heaven-filtering light.
    Tolkein-esque ferns swayed beside a brook that spiralled down from a turf moor. The water had a peaty texture, but pools of molten gold lay naked in the light. At the bottom, smooth-edged stones glowed amber with a witchery uncommon to the modern world. I sat on a rock, admiring the glorious lustre of the water. The dingle became confessional-quiet . I had an alleluia moment then and yearned for a time when the world was young. A small thorn had spiked my foot, but it didn’t break my reverie. The rain-winkled grass cast a silver sheen and the dewy air was laden with cedar-sweet smells. On impulse, I reached down and sipped from the stream. The taste was a mixture of rosewater and chalybeate that thrilled the tongue.
    With a sigh, I got up forged my way homewards. It was a place with an eldritch beauty all of its own. I resolved to return one day to this halcyon paradise.
     
                     LEVEL 5: COMPLEX WRITING: THE BECALMED LAKE
    I gazed upon the crumpled forehead of the mountain. It stabbed the clouds and loomed over me. It had a wizened and world weary aspect to it.
    The first falls had made it snow snooded. A brooch of snow had clasped itself to the scalp of the mountain and it looked like the broken, jagged tooth of a hag. I could see the bare rock at the foot of it, however, as it hadn’t been enwrought in wilderness-white yet. Where the mountain didn’t block our view, the horizon was a perfect plumb line of pellucid-blue. A wing weary bird, sodden with the morning’s dew, flashed across my vision and faded out of sight.
    At eye level, a serene lake lay in front of us. It was womb quiet and as clear as moonshine . The wan sun had not scorched away the mist yet. It was as foul as a devil’s broth, alien and otherworldly. It embalmed the space above the lake, rendering it as quiet as a sarcophagus . I sat down to wait for its brumous sheen to be burned away by the sun. Within the hour, its spirit-like form started to waver. It began to drift away, trailing at the lake with its gauzy claws. When its nebulous shimmering finally ceased, it transformed into wisps and vanished.
    The rain came then.
    Like a druid’s spittle, it was sibilant and stinging. It hissed and fizzed, boiling the surface of the lake, then subsided. When it ceased, lasers of light broke through the clouds. They criss-crossed the water in thin lines and drenched it with their brilliant beams. A brigade of flies rose up, quavering their wings and thrumming the air. Their little flitting’s transformed into fluttery shadows on the mere-silver water . They couldn’t affect the mountain’s reflection at the edge of the lake. It seemed to be varnished onto it, like a glazed tattoo of elaborate beauty.
    Only the occasional trout managed to explode its perfection. They were soaring up and ker-plunking down, causing mighty ripples which spiralled out to the island. The waves caused a twig to lollop in the water. Lichen-encased rocks gave the island its primeval quality, adding to the marvel of the occasion. I had a hallelujah moment then, a moment of clarity. I could see that the splendour of the world was inspired by a divine force. I realized that nature’s sorcerous magic could salve the most oaken of hearts.
    The pinching ants that clambered up my leg couldn’t spoil the moment. A Zion sweet smell of heather and gorse percolated towards me. I cupped a handful of water in order to taste the bounty of this awe-inspiring lake. It was tundra pure to the tongue, just as I had expected.
    I feasted my eyes one last time on its transcendental beauty and made for home. It was a postcard-perfect vignette and I was sorry to