View source for Three Months of the Ithmias

By: Seradai
Posted on: March 30, 2011
<pre>Sarapin:
Dismounting in a flurry of snow
And with the faithful steed in tow
Took my friend just off the path
To inspect the Ithmian Forest's wrath

Thus we bid farewell to our mounts
The Ithmian too thick for hooves to count

Glancing among the trees stripped bare
Feeling the searing icy air
We gave in to fears of hearing and sight
And surrendered our figures to the pure white

Surely this void isn't unending
We'll find an end just around this bending
But no, we'd traveled far enough
To find each day getting more rough

We were old friends but quick as I breathe
I drew my blade to find a new sheathe

Twas the month of Sarapin I know
That I saw our blood cut through the snow
Hurrah! I'd cured the void with one quick slice
For my Lords a line of red cleaves the ice

Following this line, I continued the walk
All alone now, my journey none can block
Must wash this blood that's soaked to my bone
This gore I'm covered in for the fate I've sewn

If I could just reach the river Zaphar
It could wash away this, my new scar

Daedalan:
For days Lord Vastar hath cursed me
Fully soaked by rain but, unluckily,
It does not cleanse this bloody mess
That for weeks has enabled me no rest

Haven't rested in weeks, I'm always weary
But still can't sleep and eyes are bleary

Twas Daedalan I had this waking dream
That my body was undone by pulling a seam
Pah! Wicked body betrays me but yet!
Twas a fabrication by my weak mind sent

Though caught my mind did slip again
The next even clearer than this rain
The next waking dream was Tyrannus
With wings on his back, he stood over us:

He cast the wicked shadow of his left wing's,
Over western Sapience, past where the Sapphire sings
And the shadow with the wing on his right
Over Eastern Sapience to bring pain and blight

The left wing truely was Apollyon, my Lord
Hateful and wicked, sparing none to the sword
The right my Lord Shaitan, Oppression
Proud and domineering, pure aggression

I snap to as I fall to the wet mud
Ack! I yell and I feel my anger bud
'Companion you did betray me!' I thresh
'Return to me so I could rend your flesh!'

To find the current of the Zaphar's,
I could wash away these, my old scars

Aegury:
Though for months I've yet to see the sun
The heart beats once more and I feel blood run
As sunlight pierces the tree tips most tall
Emerge from hiding I spot deer, squirrels, all

Oh how I loathe all these creatures foul
Deep in my chest I can't help but growl
Could not hide my most deep-seeded grudge
But never ended this journey's endless trudge

And out of the corner of my eye
Streaking across the year's first blue sky
Birds blissfully chirping, singing and calling
As if beggars and blindmen hooting, guffawing

I look back down the march I had ceased
I've reached a clearing my soul released
Into each tall stalk of weed and grass blade
And I thought my mind could at rest be laid

But the months of the rain and snow
Collected here and soaked the undergrowth
The sun rose again and focused her power
On the ground where the water was devoured

So much so that steam billowed, ascended
My rage rising I no longer felt mended
It skewered my vision, could hardly breath
And at nothing mind, body, and soul did seethe

I fall to my knees and give out a shout
The animals flee and birds fly about

For all my weaknesses, betrayed again
Was I not gifted potential by Sarapin?
Once more I cry to the Gods in the sky
Do strength and honour I belie?

I've found the river in Aegury this day
Just beyond this green clearing's ley

The Zaphar should have washed away my sin
But the sunlight doth only burn my skin
It should be salvation in this clearing
But even the river water is searing</pre>

[[Category:Bardic Runners Up]][[Category:2011 Bardics]]