This is not a new story.

It is a reference tool for those reading Brutte Parole.

In Chapter Four, Michael begins reading a mysterious red book.

It is very difficult for him to get to the material because reading the book evokes the sensation of digging through a kind of fine white sand. Each page gets harder and harder to read and, as a result, only a few pages at a time are revealed.

Herein lies the words uncovered.

This is the story of a foolish race

That enslaved itself into disgrace

They had science and religion love and art

There was very little to drive them apart

They feared the moon and worshipped the sun

And those beliefs governed everyone

They built a great city that closed like a flower

Shielding them all from the moon's evil power

They even took pains not to travel at night

Convinced that the moon was an evil delight

They spent generations only in sun

And it changed the skin of every last one

Their flesh grew warm but cracked as it dried

The frightened among them went back inside

But the change was permanent and profound

And the heavens were filled with a glorious sound

Their skin kept them heated even at night

And it gave them the feeling that all would be right

So they worshiped harder and feared even more

And none of them knew what would soon be in store

Stories were told to frighten the young

And suspicion leapt from everyone's tongue

Even criminals were kept at bay

With threats of the sun being taken away

They isolated those who disobeyed

Kept them controlled and kept them afraid

Any wrong doers were sent to a place

That denied them all the sun's embrace

Thrown down into a small stone cell

No bigger than a garden well

Dug out extra wide at the top

Forcing exposure to every moon drop

They were starved until at last they ate

The reptiles condemned to share their fate

Decades then sped by in a blink

Changing the way condemned people think

Repeat offenders grew cold and strong

And they worshiped the moon all night long

Then when they found they could jump the well

They were careful about who they could tell

Some were let out only to learn

That they would desperately want to return

Soon groups of people were caught sneaking out

Escaping their towns with an underground route

But seeking the moon was a great crime

And they were thrown into wells every last time

When they fought back it was a gruesome sight

The attack of course had been planned for night

The insurrection was well rehearsed

And they went after the big city first

They climbed the walls and hammered the shield

And peeled off the bricks till the moon was revealed

And when it broke through the protective dome

The fallen had finally reclaimed their home

But their victory was a short lived one

Because of the way they reacted to sun

And when it came up the very next day

The moon skinned people burned away

Their cold skin steamed In the bright yellow heat

And ashes piled up around their feet

This made everyone think at first

That the moon skin race was horribly cursed

And many were tortured just for fun

Often dragged helplessly into the sun

They were called Moon Skins from that point on

And the powers that be wanted them gone

Hundreds were killed in their prison wells

Burned alive in customized Hells

The ones who hid first came back to find

The genocide of those of their kind

During the day they hid in rock caves

And plotted ways to fill enemy graves

After sunset Moon Skins would begin

To scale the walls and kill those within

They would even take children into the night

And return them changed as if from a bite

Their faces got pale and their eyes turned red

They looked just like the walking dead

The fighting continued for hundreds of years

With thousands of deaths and millions of tears

But it had never occurred to either side

That there might be someone to act as their guide

That someone was out there with skin of Earth

Who could help them restore the flesh of their birth

For there was such a man that no one had met

Or talked to or tasted his influence yet

Most of the fighting happened at dawn

Or just after sunset from then on

They seemed to split night and day

But the pink sky always got in the way

No one noticed the red eclipse

Even when it foresaw an apocalypse

The sun was blocked for more than an hour

Followed by a huge thunder shower

The heavens themselves wanted to speak

But the people were busy perfecting technique

The world even shook to sound it's distress

But neither side would acquiesce

Volcano ash filled the air

Then neither the sun nor the moon was there

Both sides were frightened and once again lost

Then came the Winter with a forever frost

The planet got covered with snow and ice

And the oceans froze over not once but twice

For centuries the planet was white

And day was even colder than night

With a thick ice blanket on land and sea

Both parties weakened considerably

Too hungry to fight too tired to shout

Everyone slept as they waited it out

Silence again reclaimed the air

Even after the snow was no longer there

It was then when the world was fast asleep

That a fur covered man came from his keep

The lone traveler looked up at the sky

And watched as cloud after cloud shuffled by

He could see that the sun and the moon still hid

And wondered just what his fellow man did

While they stayed misguided under their dome

His faith was a bit closer to home

And he was prepared to reseed every hill

But the world was mourning still

And although he could go out day and night

He kept himself mostly out of sight

Sunshine returned from it's long retreat

And filled the rivers and lakes with heat

The Earth man set about helping plants grow

But there were places he still would not go

The Sun greeted him early each day

And kept him company all the way

It took some time before the flowers bloomed

But the air was eventually well perfumed

At night when the moon turned things blue

The man went out in a little canoe

But he was witnessed by the sick

And they envied how he recovered so quick

He held the key to their very existence

And they hated him fiercely but from a safe distance

They resented that he was healthy and free

While they suffered through no such guarantee

The two races worked together at long last

But only to revisit crimes of the past

They captured this man and cut off his fur

He begged them to stop but they would not deter

He was the cure they treated like mud

They should have studied not spilled his blood

In time not a soul would remember his name

And they only had themselves to blame

The world moved on and all but forgot

The race that split and the war they fought

The ones who lived by blood were few

And over time they all withdrew

The ones that lived by sun were many

And had very few complaints if any

The new human race made remarkable strides

And even the Earth Man had to chose sides

But he would find a lonely existence

And even his dreams were kept at a distance

He questioned and cursed his very soul

While death became an unpaid toll

He lived so long that his language died

But he liked the other ones he tried

The world grew small while he grew tired

And he met a woman he greatly admired

She gave him peace and children as well

And some had secrets they could not tell

Usually the boys and it skipped generations

Defying all known explanations

None of them actually knew that they were

A very cursed race's miracle cure

For even a sip of their feral blood

Could let them swim in a solar flood

The world will grow tall and even at night

Multiple cities will be filled with light

People will even exchange their fears

For ones with smaller souvenirs

And what became of a savior subjected

Was just what one might have expected

He disappeared and so did his kin

They had their own families and blended in

But the secret was just beneath their skin

And the blood will not always stay within

It can be used to make Moon Skins be

A living part of humanity

But if swallowed by a mortal man

It will kill as poison can

One blood gives life, one blood takes it

One man lives life, one forsakes it

And if the blood is mixed it will create

The elixir for a Godly state.

Notes:

I am not expecting reviews on this (or any) post, but I hope you find it helpful to have the whole poem in one place.

It was Jenn's idea.

MOG