Verse by Caleb Mannan

If you like Robert Service, Longfellow, Tolkien, Milton, Robinson Jeffers, Whitman, Poe, The Bible, Tennyson, Ray Bradbury, life, death, Untermeyer, Pound, Donne, joy, sorrow, Siegfried Sassoon, Wilfred Owen, Robert Graves, children, beauty, Dante, Tom Waits, then set yourself down beside this fire.

Monday, October 11, 2010

XLIII. This Fire I Pass

This fire I pass, the torch and the staff,
The sword and the axe,
The Roman and Saxon,
My children,
This I pass to thee:
The Land to take Dominion,
The stars to stoke the Heavens,
The fire to gird the horizon.
The hammer and spike,
Ye shall work with great might
To erect and to smite:
For there is no demon,
Whether Cerebreal, Spiritual, or Electric
That we shall not slay
And that Minotaur skull bedeck
Our door post.
Fear not my children!
Your Momma and I give you a legacy!
No legacy born of perfection,
But of the Human Stuff:
Love and suffering, pain, death,
Freedom and Joy.
Yes-this I give to you.
And when darkness
Rears its ugly head
And battledust clots you eyes,
You look back, and you look into
My eyes.
Yes-
You turn and you look into
My greying eyes, and upon my worn chevrons.
And you take that fire from me
And you go on,
You run now,
Go on now,
Run,
Fly.
And as my bones hit the earth,
You do not look back,
But you take to the sky,
For this fire shall live forever.

XLII. The Story of Waylon

For Waylon Redding Mannan, who is as of today 7 days overdue.



Set y're feet upon the path you see
Follow it as fiercely as can ye,
And know that this path will always be
The perfect path laid out for thee.

There is a place just by the road
Wherein they shall lay their load,
Within y're arms and y're abode
They shall lay their weary load.

Never ye doubt y're steps ahead
(though ye will, ne’er ye dread),
These steps across the Land o’ Dead
Lead ye to the Father’s Stead.

There is a place just by the road
Wherein ye can lay y're load,
And there in my arms and my abode
Ye can lay y're weary load.


So set y're feet upon this path,
And let y're story come to pass.
As ye through the flowers and grass
Never ye fear what comes to pass.

For y're story is our Father's craft.