BERIDE — [Verb] To ride around, beside, or upon; to surround or infest with horsemen. From Middle English beriden, biriden, from Old English berīdan ("to ride round, surround, besiege"), equivalent to be- ("around, about") + ride. Cognate with Dutch berijden ("to ride a horse"). Unlike "besiege" (which tightens like a noose) or "escort" (which shepherds with intent), "beride" is the ambivalent act of circling—neither wholly hostile nor benign. It is the thunder of knights wheeling a lone traveler on the moor, the buzz of flies orbiting a carcass, or the way memories of lost loves ride the edges of consciousness—always near, never quite arriving, yet shaping the space they haunt.