Intergalactic Summit

One post in Cpt. Baracca's thread catched my eye. Especially given the value we Amarr put on poetics as a means to convey truth that isn't available to mere rational calculus. I'd ask those responding to this to do so with a Poem, just as I will do in response to the one that Cpt. Mintor chose to skillfully express himself.



And an orator said, "Speak to us of Freedom."

And he answered:

At the city gate and by your fireside I have seen you prostrate yourself and worship your own freedom,
Even as slaves humble themselves before a tyrant and praise him though he slays them.
Ay, in the grove of the temple and in the shadow of the citadel I have seen the freest among you wear their freedom as a yoke and a handcuff.
And my heart bled within me; for you can only be free when even the desire of seeking freedom becomes a harness to you, and when you cease to speak of freedom as a goal and a fulfillment.
You shall be free indeed when your days are not without a care nor your nights without a want and a grief,
But rather when these things girdle your life and yet you rise above them naked and unbound.

And how shall you rise beyond your days and nights unless you break the chains which you at the dawn of your understanding have fastened around your noon hour?

In truth that which you call freedom is the strongest of these chains, though its links glitter in the sun and dazzle the eyes.
And what is it but fragments of your own self you would discard that you may become free?
If it is an unjust law you would abolish, that law was written with your own hand upon your own forehead.
You cannot erase it by burning your law books nor by washing the foreheads of your judges, though you pour the sea upon them.

And if it is a despot you would dethrone, see first that his throne erected within you is destroyed.
For how can a tyrant rule the free and the proud, but for a tyranny in their own freedom and a shame in their won pride?
And if it is a care you would cast off, that care has been chosen by you rather than imposed upon you.
And if it is a fear you would dispel, the seat of that fear is in your heart and not in the hand of the feared.

Verily all things move within your being in constant half embrace, the desired and the dreaded, the repugnant and the cherished, the pursued and that which you would escape.
These things move within you as lights and shadows in pairs that cling.
And when the shadow fades and is no more, the light that lingers becomes a shadow to another light.

And thus your freedom when it loses its fetters becomes itself the fetter of a greater freedom.

With this I say: "I agree with Cpt. Baracca." Humans aren't birds, we are quite different animals. Men shouldn't yearn for the freedom of the other animals, least they will become the worst beasts.

What in the verse is with this thread?
For what reason do you ask us,
the demigods of new eden, whom trail so many dead,
in sacred games to remove our sins in massacres grand,
yet find not but more sins as countless as a shores sands?

To ride the breeze with free and easy skill,
To inquire into the intentions of the Maker,
And to live one more day
To spite my enemy.

Oh, Sergeant Death, I've served with you,
And chanced my breath A time or two!
I've seen brave men Turn green as sin,
When you have coughed, "Fall in, fall in!"

I've heard brave men With cold fear shout,
When you have piped, "Fall out, fall out!"
Where'er a lad Would do his part,
'Tis you that probes His inmost heart.

Though all be stirred By drums a-roll,
'Tis you that finds The soldier soul,
And takes him through The conqueror's drill,
And helps him home, Or leaves him still.

'Tis you that puts In one parade Them that were anxious And afraid,
And them that were Fed-up and sick, And them that begged You to be quick,
And them that gave You laugh for laugh,
And bitterer chaff For bitter chaff. . . .

Oh, you are old, And fierce and wise,
But there is goodness In your eyes.
And still your health Goes round the tents--
"The Father of The Regiments!"

And a child came forth, and asked the soldier, “Tell me of the stars?”

Oh child,
Fresh, new, full of wonder,
The stars are terrible,
Do not ponder on their glory.
For war takes the stars.
Death haunts their light with a red, bloody stain.
Man fights against man, brother against brother,
No man listens to another.
Oh child,
Do not ponder on the glory of the stars.

And the child came forth, and asked the artist, “Tell me of the stars?”

Oh child,
Fresh, new, full of wonder,
The stars are beautiful,
Leaving me breathless with every glance.
Nebula stains the void with colors innumerable.
Ideas flow as water in the stream.
Oh child,
The stars are beautiful.

In suspenseful animation my wrath dare graces,
With out-stretched palm drones tear new spaces,
Cannonade, Cannonade, my hailing call,
Cannonade, Cannonade, more people fall.

A siren gliding through the heat of battle,
Whispered death cries among the mortals,
Cannonade, Cannonade, my hailing call,
Cannonade, Cannonade, more people fall.

Both sharp and violent for I am the blade,
Yet no death grants peace to my rage,
Cannonade, Cannonade, my hailing call,
Cannonade, Cannonade, more people fall.

Nobody comes home nobody comes,
Nothing reverses history nothing does,
Cannonade, Cannonade, my hailing call,
Cannonade, Cannonade, more people fall.

Moving on? Ha, let us redefine to survive,
For the nightmares **** with the rusted knives,
Cannonade, Cannonade, my hailing call,
Cannonade, Cannonade, more people fall.

- Ramblings, Isis Dea (YC13)

Past history shows
Scherezad's poems are like
Truth trapped in amber

The hallowed lands so far behind
As fleeting dreams still linger
Like distant voices through the rain
Like grains of sand cast from my hands

I never thought I'd go this far
Without a star to cross the seas
So far from shores I'd left behind
Still far from shores I've yet to reach

I try to find the strength I need
To calm the doubts in my belief
With the will, I know my heart won't break

And if I have strength, then I've belief
If I have love, my heart still beats
Here under stars
Far from home

The picture fades, the light recedes
The sound is lost in whispers
My recollections once clear and pure
Now distant lights that dim with time

I never thought I'd go this far
Without a star to cross the seas
So far from shores I'd left behind
Still far from shores I've yet to reach

((vnv nation - homeward. a few days and im one year))