The Beautiful Battlefield
Written by Sappho D'Jumi.
Translators' (Dom`ny Mortis) notes:
Reportedly, Sappho transcribed this 'warning' shortly before his
disappearance, based upon a series of nightmares that plagued his
sleep. Few of his contemporaries took his 'prophecy' seriously, but
a few of Sappho's devotees saw that his words underscored an issue,
a hardening of hearts among the Jumi, that was being reluctantly
swept under the rug by a hierarchy that could find no solution to
the race's dwindling numbers. Whether Sappho thought the
dreams presaged his own death is unknown.
Take heed, ye elders, take heed, you all
These dreams that haunt my rest
Let not this wisdom pass unheard
And mark you measure every word
This truth that I attest
Through haze and haze for time unknown
I stumble lost and weary
'Til cometh I to a glorious sight!
A placid beach by silent night
(But stand you voyeurs leery)
The sky here scarlet strip of blood
Stretched out o'er ocean brack
Extending out beyond my sight
And limned in softest violet light
The wide iridescent track
No dunes are there among the sands
No slope to this sparkling beach
But marring its perfect surface here
Broken blades and rusting spears
Scattered over throughout its reach
Cloaked and cowled deep in black
Climbs a figure from the wake
Without a word he waves his hand
The light is muted from the sand
And thus do I awake
Last night, however, was not the same
By chance the brooding figure spoke
I asked whose ru-ined arms were these
And where their proof of use or need
And thus he said 'ere I awoke:
"These weapons are of Jumi make
The finest of your once proud race
You witness their last battlefield
A final stand, where none would yield!
You see also their resting place
"All and one they fear to weep
They abandon their Loving arts
Their legacy now a strip of sand -
This sparkling beach on which you stand!
You trod upon their hearts!
"All and one refusing to feel
The pain of their salvation
Stand assured if they deny
That anguish will be surpassed by
The agony of damnation!"
He cast me from his hooded sight
Consigning with his final breath
"If your lives you choose to horde
As misers who dare not afford,
We will meet again in death."
But now I fear it's far too late
As our people walk toward the waves
Resolving to die before they yield
Upon a deceptively beautiful battlefield
In the hell of a glittering grave.
Translated 1/1/01, 1 AM - Dom`ny Mortis (Dom`ny / Azrael)
Taken from The Damnation Cycle, a work in progress
Sappho D'Jumi created by Dom`ny Mortis, based on concepts by Square. All rights reserved.