This came to me last night while I was prepping for the end-of-year party. The words are Inaradd the king’s, but I have no idea who he is speaking to. Comments welcome.
“Princes will come to my funeral,
and nobles of rank will ring my bier;
but they will set torch to the pyre
with but few regrets and fewer tears.
I am a king and I am not kind,
and only the simple will mourn me.
But your sons will carry your casket
home to your barrow by your fathers
who rest in the grave-field by your house.
Your friends will attend your obsequies,
and cast clods of earth into your grave.
Men will praise your deeds with honest words;
even your rivals will respect you
and ungrudgingly give you your due.
Yes, kings will mark my passing from life,
but they will revel in my dying,
knowing how I kept them on the leash.
But your journey to the dim, dry land
will start with a stately procession
and men you have known forty winters
and women you knew an afternoon
will come in droves to bid you farewell.
I envy you that, gentle harper,
even more than I envy the ship
that bears you on the gull-winged waters,
with spray in your beard, breath in your breast
and your hand on the long-armed tiller!
If I could go to Ocean again,
and not bend my backside to the throne
nor cramp hands with the law-giver’s pen,
I would rise from this throne and depart,
and never set foot again on land,
but take long passage to Ardalis
and see dark Daesena one last time.”
I haven’t written anything connected with Orien in more than a year, and suddenly this came up into my memory last night about 6pm. But of course, I was on my way out the door. So I didn’t write it down, thinking even as I left and didn’t write, that it was a mistake. It wasn’t. It was still pounding in my head three hours later, and even still when I got up this morning. So here it is, where I need it to be, for now.
It’s wonderful, dear! More! More!
It’s wonderful, dear! More! More!
You know, its just the sort of thing that fits the Orien mythology. And its society.
You know, its just the sort of thing that fits the Orien mythology. And its society.