<stx:transform version="1.0" 
  xmlns:stx="http://stx.sourceforge.net/2002/ns"
  stxpath-default-namespace="http://test_ns"
  strip-space="yes">

  <stx:template match="/">
    <root>
      <stx:value-of select="concat('-', ., '-')"/>
      <stx:text>:</stx:text>
      <stx:process-children/>
    </root>
  </stx:template>
  
  <stx:template match="root/node">
    <stx:variable name="var" select="."/>
    <stx:value-of select="$var"/>
  </stx:template>

</stx:transform>