From the stacks of the Infinite Library:

I have found, in my travels, a thin tome written recently that intrigues me for its simplicity and surprising depth. What appears to be a loose collection of poems speaks to more levels the longer one studies them. They seem to be, in truth, a treatise on philosophy and tactics, possibly even spellwork, as much as art. Though short, they say a great deal, and I feel compelled to give them further study. Once I work my way through the considerable backlog already waiting for me. It... may be some time yet before I can give them a proper study.
-Raleris, the lorekeeper.


Reign of the Ten Spirits
-by Nodeshi Saigo

Awe
Sow life in death's wake,
Let nothing stand in thy path;
Be thou as Gods' Steel.

Pride
Light shining on soul,
Shadows cast over body;
Edge of the divine.

Fugue
Helm of the Ghastlord,
Armored in battle's wisdom;
A specter's visage.

Fealty
Heed but one master,
striding untouched 'pon the field;
No hesitation.

Vengeance
'Fore their sword is drawn,
Strike down a greater foe's strength;
A demigod's fist.

Scars
A deity's gift,
Proof of surviving battles
which felled enemies.

Calamity
Ground quaking in fear,
Marks of another coming;
Runes of a fickle god.

War
Power born of war,
becomes the scourge of nobles,
where death and life meet.

Dusk
Blessings of twilight,
golden feathers glow in hope,
bearing the soul's shield.

Myth
An Overbeing's favor,
Standing eternal in deed
with dreams of heaven.

Note: big thanks go to Raven who helped me finish out the project.

Well done!



I always enjoy the poetry that shows up here. Working in all the cards of the cycles made it really cool.

~SE++

Let the record show that I did basically nothing for this. These are pretty much all Barinellos.

I like the sequence quite a bit, and, as a fan of the Shadowmoor deities/spirit avatars, I really like the subject matter. I'm sure I'll have more to say about these soon, but I'm dead tired, so I'll get to it later. Just wanted to stop by and give a big ol' thumbs up.

Well, these are delightful!

If forced to choose, I think "Dusk" might be my favorite?

But no one is forcing me to choose, so I'll just applaud the lot.

Thanks for sharing, Barin!

I thought "Myth" was the best, and a fantastic way to end the whole thing. Something wonderfully symbolic of the poem ending on the tone of Myth. With that said, I don't see a section that I think would be the single best to *start* the poem with.

~SE++

Take your time mein freund.
As to the sequence, I have a confession to make. I just cribbed it off of the Tablet of the Guilds. While I could have gone counter clockwise, I did like the idea of ending with Myth a lot so.... It just seemed thematic.

Willkommen!

See, I'm glad you picked up on that. Though technically this isn't a singular work, but rather a collection since each poem is a haiku, they are meant to be enjoyed as solitary pieces.

As for my own favorite... I'm not sure. There are certain ones that I enjoy a lot. Vengeance and Fugue are both really high up there, but I think War has my favorite reading, rather than composition. War, while not my favorite poem, is the one I feel most clever about since you can read that middle passage in a couple of different ways that ends up changing the entire meaning of the poem A LOT. Similarly, Fealty can be read differently too, depending on how you want to take it.
Awe and Vengeance probably have my favorite symbolic translation of the card abilities.
Scars and Pride get kind of honorable mention just for being kind of difficult to work with. Pride, I ended up playing on the mechanical identity of Holy Strength and Unholy Strength being on the same card.
Probably my least favorite is Calamity, but that one was such a pill to work with.

Aside from that, I want to say that this is a small sort of sneak preview of the "author" of these. I intend to flesh this character out hopefully soon. His history, some background on his homeworld, and potentially even a microfic featuring more haiku! Lot of stuff bubbling just under the surface, so stay tuned.

I did notice that, and thought it was awesome how the divine treads the edge of light and shadow, somehow both and neither.

~SE++

Good stuff. I do think Myth was the best of the lot.

Yeah, I did the same thing when I wrote my poem The Signets. I like the pattern.