Poetry based on the characters from the Amber series

ABYSS : FROM WITHIN

Is it a wonder that a man should pause
Upon the edge of darkness, and delight
To see the frailty of ordered light,
Beyond all limits and all natural laws?
This is creation's end: within this night
Freedom is ours, we are no more confined
By any other cause than our own mind:
We see in certainty by our own light.
You need not journey farther than your mind
To find this edge: within your mirrored eyes
The boundary of light and order lies,
Darkness the easiest of things to find.
So look within: an easy thing to do.
Why be concerned that it looks into you?


BENEDICT : HAIKUS

A man holds a sword:
Leaves dance round him in the wind,
Orange, brown, and gold.

Leaves touch the sword edge,
Fall apart and separate,
Tumble to the ground.

The edge is bitter,
Honed by centuries of war,
Strengthened by duty.

Look at the sword blade:
From hammering and forging,
Patterns in the steel.

Does it understand
What the dancing leaves would say,
Turning in the wind?

It is the best steel:
You only see your own face
When you study it.

When you are attacked,
You will lie dead on the ground
Before you know it.

A man holds a sword:
Leaves dance round him in the wind,
Orange, brown, and gold.


BENEDICT : TO CORWIN

I warned you, brother: leave this land alone.
I am its General and Protector now,
Your interference I will not allow:
This land is mine to guard, not yours to own.
And since you chose to murder and to slay,
To leave my servants in a shallow grave,
Reject the aid and shelter that I gave,
Then, Corwin, rest assured I will repay.
I do not choose to waste my time in words.
I know no Dara: you may spend your breath
Attempting to avert your coming death,
But we will end this matter with our swords.
You might prefer to die with sword in hand,
So draw it - or I'll kill you where you stand.


A FRAGMENT OF "THE TALE OF AVALON"

So then the hellmaids rode upon the field,
Their flowing hair more brilliant than the sun:
Viragos all, as bitter as the snow,
Their glowing skins as pale and cold as ice.
And there behind them, in a sorry troop,
There came the fellow men whom once we knew:
A dismal sight, their eyes all dull and dim,
Their faces pale and sickly, their heads bowed,
Dragging their feet to melancholy drums.
Yet first before them, proud and beautiful,
There rode the hellmaid Lintra, tall and fair:
All armed and armoured, till the sun itself
Must hide its face from such reflected light.
But then our great Protector raised his sword:
"For Avalon!" he cried, and at that sound
Our army raised their weapons in reply,
And made the hills ring with that battle-cry.
So forth rode either leader, sword in hand,
Their armies near behind them following
Like to the tail of some descending star.
They faced each other, for a moment poised:
And then the hellmaid moved: her wicked sword
Fell like a thunderbolt, as bright and swift,
And the Protector's right arm fell with it,
And he cried out, and all our men with him.
Yet as our righteous fury clove the air,
He twisted in his saddle, caught the sword,
And with a single stroke, all unopposed,
Too swift to see, too furious to bar,
He struck her to the heart, and thus she died.
Her hellmaids screamed in bitter grief and pain,
And screaming, broke: and breaking, fled the field:
Yet never the Protector spoke a word,
But silently did gaze upon her corpse.


BLEYS : FIRELIGHT

Bleys: a prince of light and fire,
Bears a wineglass and a sword,
Seldom holding to his word,
Strong ambition and desire.
Wine to warm and cheer the heart,
Wine to set the soul afire:
Sword to gain the heart's desire,
Sword to tear a life apart.

Tell me, could I place my trust
In your sworn and promised word?
Though it's given and averred,
Would you leave me in the dust?
While we travel the same way,
You are constant at my side:
When at last our paths divide,
You are gone with yesterday.

Bold and brilliant and rash,
Keen to gain your heart's desire,
Next to your triumphant fire
I am humble, fallen ash.
Yet, I beg you, keep that fire!
By its heat I warm my hands,
At your side I long to stand,
Though you light my funeral pyre.


BLEYS : MEDITATION IN AVERNUS

Avernus flames below me as I watch,
My troops drill like toy soldiers on the field:
They know their army fights a holy war,
Shame to feel terror, sacrilege to yield.
Mere shadows all, none of them real as I,
Or real as you, my brother now returned:
Yet they will follow us to Amber's height,
And by them Eric shall be overturned.

Corwin, you come to me as a surprise:
I thought you still in sleep on Shadow Earth,
Still wandering in memory, lost to use:
But now I see you risen in rebirth.
You think to use me in your great revolt,
To lead the army, with me at your side:
Perhaps a while I might assist your aims -
The crown is there before us as a guide.

But do you think I'd let you take the throne,
And do you think I'd bow the knee to you?
Corwin, my brother, dull your wits have grown
If you believe I don't see what you do.
My sword and dagger are as sharp as yours:
I shall not be the last one to betray,
I shall not be the one who falls to death:
For I shall hold all Amber, come what may.

So take my hand: I'll smile to see your face,
And welcome allies here to join my fight:
Though now in Amber Eric rules the day,
Together we shall bring the fall of night.
Yet from this night shall rise another sun:
On that day I shall rule, and I alone,
My sister shall be standing at my side,
And you, my brother, kneel before my throne.


BOREL : OPINIONS ON AMBERITES

Perfidious and honourless,
Without a shred of dignity:
I thought you once were noblemen,
The flower of true chivalry,
Whom I could meet in open duel
And test my skill in battle fair:
You tricked me and dishonoured me,
Left me alone and dying there.

Even the lowliest of our kind,
The demons and the gutter scum,
Would show more honour, dogs, than you,
And would not by such tricks have won.
No gentleman would use such means
Against a man of noble birth:
You show yourselves ignobly here,
And Amber's blood as little worth.

Although you tricked and butchered me,
You shall not claim that you have won:
I shall have vengeance yet on you,
Upon you, Corwin, and your son:
I shall return from past the grave
To challenge you in one last fight,
And with my sword and skill, I swear,
Defeat your tricks, curst Amberite.


BRAND : TO BENEDICT IN TIR-NA NOG'TH

Greetings, my brother, best of all my brothers,
In this high city built on shifting dreams.
So Corwin told you his half of the story?
Be wary: nothing here is as it seems.
All that I did and do is done for Amber:
My only wish, to see her take her place
Above all nations, Shadows, Law and Chaos:
And all this shall be, in a little space.

Perhaps you wish for military power?
To govern Amber's troops forevermore,
To lead the greatest army in creation,
To conquer Amber's foes in endless war?
Or maybe you desire the darker secrets
Of power and of Pattern, mind and soul?
I stained my hands and heart with blood to gain them:
I offer them to you, complete and whole.

Oh, Benedict, most foolish of my brothers,
You did not listen to a single word.
No man could ever match your skill in swordplay:
Would I be fool enough to use a sword?
The Jewel compels your silence and your stillness,
I need no sword: only a single knife.
Good night, sweet prince: with your death comes the future,
Here a new world begins: here ends your life.


BRAND : SESTINA

I saw him deep within the darkness, dreaming,
Burning green eyes intent upon some vision
That led into the shadows of the Abyss:
Of his own choice he shattered every binding
And left behind the chains of family blood
To raise his hands to heaven and call down fire.

He smiled at me. "Why should I desire binding?
Better by far to burn bonds with the fire
Of chosen darkness and forsaken blood,
And with that blood illuminate a vision:
Although it lead me to the edge of the Abyss,
Without that freedom there is no true dreaming."

His eyes burned brighter than the waiting Abyss
As he continued further in his dreaming,
A man who walked alone without a binding:
If I should choose to travel through that fire,
To cast away all else and seek my vision,
Would I be ready for that dream to spill blood?

He smiled again. "I know that secret fire
That drives you on, and shakes the petty binding,
That blinds you to all other than your vision:
You shall find what a little thing is your blood
If it should try to bar you from your dreaming,
Whether it lead you to the light or the Abyss.

Or do you hold so dear the bonds of blood
That for their sake you would forsake the Abyss,
And cast aside that power and that fire?
Would you abandon all your hopes and dreaming,
Submit yourself to such small human binding,
And lay aside your soul and fire and vision?

No more than me would you deny your vision,
Or let yourself be trapped by any ties of blood,
When you can see so clearly in your dreaming:
When you could pass, at will, the silent Abyss,
Possess the world, the power, and the fire,
And stand alone and free of every binding."

He smiled once more. "It is the blood brings binding:
Accept instead the fire to seize the vision,
And to the edge of the Abyss come dreaming..."


BRAND : VISIONARY

You do not understand: none of you do:
That I can see a different, better world,
A Pattern with my mind about it curled,
And I know how to make this dream come true.
It's such a simple thing: a mere few drops
Of family blood, that we so gladly shed,
A simple spatter of our Amber red
Upon the Primal Pattern: and all stops.
It starts again with me: a vision mine
That's bright beyond all bearing, strong and pure,
That through all times and seasons shall endure,
My image and my dream, my own design.
Why are you all so far from sanity
That you don't see what I so clearly see?


CAINE

Cast the cards
And there you see him,
Watching you
In green and black:
Deadly foe
Or trusted ally,
Take his hand
But watch your back.

Smiles at you -
His eyes say nothing:
Emeralds
Upon his knife,
Juggled forward,
Backward, forward -
Watch his hands
And guard your life.

Proud upon the
Seas of Amber,
Deadlier yet
Upon the land:
Ill-advised to
Go against him:
Careful where you
Take your stand.

Think him dead?
I don't advise it,
Even if the
Body's there:
That proves nothing,
Simply nothing:
Watch your back, friend,
And beware.

Go about your
Daily business,
Do the things you
Choose to do:
But, my friend,
Within the shadows
Someone's out there,
Watching you.


CAINE : AFTER PATTERNFALL

Perhaps you think I should apologise,
Admit I erred, and try to make amends:
But by my actions you achieved your ends:
Would we be here if I'd done otherwise?
If you should wish it, I'll admit deceit,
Murder, attempted murder, fratricide:
I shed no tears for those who may have died,
I'll smile at those who live if our ways meet.
My actions were for Amber: that is all
The truth there is: I did what I thought best.
Although you may regard this as a jest,
As much as you, I answered duty's call.
It's up to you to call this truth or lies,
But don't expect me to apologise.


CAINE : RULES OF THE GAME

I rather like the sea: her shifting moods
Leave nothing certain, nothing that is sure,
The stillness forms but does not long remain,
Each wave from day to day will not endure.
Yet if you know her rules and play her games,
You stay afloat and come at last to land:
It's just a case of caution and of wit,
Of knowing where and when to take your stand.

Amber is like that too: she has her rules,
Her etiquette, unspoken but observed,
Those who play by those rules may yet succeed,
And those who break them get what is deserved.
But I play by myself: I see no need
To let another player know my mind,
I lay the Trumps in private solitaire
And never tell the secrets that I find.

There is one final rule: there are no rules,
No fixed commandments to which we all bow,
Merely a set of guidelines: if you wish,
Then bend or break them, as your whims allow.
The highest level of this private game
Is writing your own rules with which to play:
The highest stake your life: the prize the world.
You have your cards: there's nothing more to say.


CASTLE AMBER

More than the living walk these corridors:
Others are sometimes seen within these walls,
Their feet a lonely echo on the floors,
But no-one ever answers to my calls.
I only see a distant figure, passed
Into another corridor than mine,
A shadow on the wall, vanished so fast
That there's no trace of movement, not a sign:
The sound of running footsteps by my room,
A snatch of conversation through the wall,
A madman's raving in the dungeon's gloom,
A child replying to his father's call.
Tell me, do I but dream this phantom host?
Or are they living, and am I the ghost?


CHILD OF AMBER

Sunlight falling soft on the streets of Amber,
Listen to the waves crash down below,
Standing in the gloom of the Castle cellars,
Walking to the heart of the Pattern's glow.

I can walk to each and every shadow,
Find a place to match my every scheme,
Travel like a ghost as I hellride onwards,
Passing through the shadows like a dream.

Yet we all return at last to Amber,
Summoned to the Realm by blood and power,
Here to guard the Pattern or to tear it asunder,
Here to seize the crown at the final hour.

I will face my brothers and my sisters,
Bring them down to ruin if I must,
Thrust them down and rise upon their fallen bodies,
Leave them where they lie in the bloody dust.

Sunlight falling soft on the streets of Amber,
Listen to the waves crash down below,
Standing in the gloom of the castle cellars,
Walking to the heart of the Pattern's glow.


CORAL : INNOCENT GIRL

She was an innocent girl
With two green eyes,
Of Oberon's blood
From long ago,
So she walked the Pattern
Through the fire,
And she said, "Send me where you
Want me to go."

It sent her away to
A darkened land,
And she lay there asleep in a
Circle of fire:
Until Merlin found her and
Kissed her awake,
And they mended the Pattern
With desire.

Then two great powers
Came face to face,
And the power of the blast tore her
Eye from her head,
Now she looks at the world through
Differing eyes,
One is natural green,
The other is red.

It's the Jewel of Judgement
Shining there,
And she sees the world,
But who knows how?
She has got far more than
She ever asked:
She was an innocent girl:
Not so innocent now.


CORRIDOR OF MIRRORS

I saw it yesterday: just as I turned
To enter my own room, then suddenly
There was another entrance next to me,
And all the candles flickered where they burned.
I paused to look along it: long, not wide,
No end that I could see from where I stood,
Nor turnings to be seen, gaze as I would,
But mirrors hanging thick on every side.
Mirrors in frames of metal, wood, and fire,
Some draped with webs and dust, some fresh and new:
Some, I was told, show falsehoods, some show true,
Your greatest terror and your heart's desire.
I passed it by: but it returned today,
And my reflection beckons me to stay.


CORWIN : A CHASE IN ARDEN

The bastard's right
Behind me now,
All I can do
Is ride and pray:
His hawk is watching
From above,
And through its eyes
He sees my way.

I hear his horn
Cut through the air,
I hear the belling
Of his hounds,
The screaming of
The distant hawk,
All common sounds
In Arden's bounds.

So many times
He's hunted here,
Chased down his prey
And left it dead:
I'm just the latest
On the list,
The best game yet:
A brother's head.

To match his hawk
I'll send my own,
Against his hounds
I have my sword:
Although he may
Yet win the day,
I'll take a price
From Arden's Lord.

I'll stain his spotless
Armour white,
And dirty it
With his own blood:
Brother, I swear
If you pursue,
I'll leave you dead
In Arden mud.


CORWIN : AFTERMATH

Brothers and sisters, siblings mine,
(The floor was hard and the cell was cold)
I meet you here at the edge of the world,
I know you better now than of old.

The sky is burning above our heads,
(I saw no sky and I saw no light)
I have a word to say to you
Now we have turned aside the night.

Our father goes to his funeral,
(A few short paces were all my lands)
He left his blessing to us all,
Power and dominion in our hands.

I want no part of any of this,
(Dreams were full of the burning coals)
Somebody else may have the crown,
I have abandoned all my goals.

I do not seek revenge on you,
(Four stone walls with water pearled)
You only did what you thought best,
Followed your duty and saved the world.

Only one thing that I would change,
(All I had done was lost and vain)
To save my sister from the Abyss,
To turn time back so she lived again.

I have no bitterness nor love,
(Walled in by darkness, chained and pent)
Nor any hatred nor obsession,
All my desire and passion spent.

Brothers and sisters, I make my bow,
(Only the silence and darkness mine)
I leave the world in your hands now:
The game may continue, but I resign.


CORWIN : AT CABRA

I shall have vengeance. Here the light is keen
Upon my eyes, new-opened to the day
That opens outwards to an endless sky.

Here, on this rock, it seems the end of things:
The sea spreads outwards in a ceaseless surge
And washes the horizon and the sky.

My eyes are clear again, free from the night
That shrouded them for hours that passed like days,
And days like years, and years like centuries.

I shall have vengeance, shall repay my wrongs
Upon all those my kin who are to blame,
And upon you, dear brother, most of all.

I call to me a bird of my desire,
Black wings night's shadow in the growing dawn,
To send you promise of my sure revenge.

I call to me a bird of my desire,
White wings as pallid as the empty sky,
And send it forth to greet me with my fate.

Destiny's wings now overshadow us:
The vengeance, Eric, that you took on me,
Shall be returned upon you thousandfold.

I shall have vengeance. This, my solemn word,
Sworn by a Prince of Amber, is my oath,
My promise to the empty sea and sky.


CORWIN : IMPRISONMENT

The darkness clings in folds about my head:
I walk in silence in the endless gloom,
A constant pacing round the tiny room,
The spectre of a Prince who's long since dead.
All of my splendour gone: my rose, my sword,
My freedom and my rank, my strength, my pride,
And worst of all my eyes, my eyes beside:
My very life a whim of Amber's Lord.
Oh my sweet brother, here in this long night
My thoughts and dreams and prayers are all of you:
Waiting the day when I shall rule anew
And you shall kneel before my crowned might.
What mercy shall I show you on that day?
No more than you did me: I will repay.


CORWIN : TO DARA, AFTER PATTERNFALL

The first time that we met, you had my love:
The second time, declared yourself our foe:
The third time, in the dreaming skies above,
You claimed your ancestry from long ago.
The fourth time that we met, you told your tale,
Explained my father's role, and owned our son:
Now, at our latest meeting, all words fail:
Our sides are chosen, and what's done is done.
I swore no oath to you, I gave no word
Concerning what was done and what might be:
Whatever Father offered or averred
Was his affair: you have no claim on me.
I'm sorry if you feel your trust abused,
But you used me as much as you were used.


CORWIN : TO FIONA

Sister, your face is turned away,
And yet I know that you observe
Our little dance around the throne:
So will you reign, or will you serve?
Your eyes are shyly lowered now,
Your hair as bright as funeral pyres:
But yet it never burns as bright
As your ambition's inner fires.

Your skin, translucent as a pearl,
Covers a soul less pure by far:
Your eyes, as green as emeralds,
More distant than the loneliest star:
That private smile you always wear
Over a mouth that's full of lies
Is beautiful upon your face,
But never reaches to your eyes.

I cannot trust you to obey,
I would not wish you to control:
I cannot even read your face,
I could not ever judge your soul.
Sister, be careful where you tread:
Although your smile be full of sin,
I'd rather see your living face
Than see a skull's eternal grin.


DALT

I go to hunt the Unicorn,
To pierce her side and bring her down:
To grind her children in the mire,
Destroy their kingdom and their crown:
To break the power of Amber fair,
Shatter her shining golden pride,
Avenge my mother's many wrongs:
And more beside, and more beside.

My mother rode against your might,
Abainst the tyrant Oberon:
He captured her and shamed her then -
I am your brother and his son.
The fruit of that accursed rape,
I shall be bitter to your taste:
I shall not rest till you are dead
And all of Amber long laid waste.

You ask what vengeance I desire?
Only your blood will satisfy.
So come, my siblings, answer me,
Take up your blades, and make reply.
The Unicorn fades with the night,
The Lion shines in the coming morn:
I am the Lion that brings your doom:
I go to hunt the Unicorn.


DARA : CRAZY LADY OF THE COURTS

Chaos my love and my delight,
Law my abhorrence and my bane:
I was deceived by Amber once,
I will not be betrayed again.
I walked the Pattern once by blood,
I stood amid its ordered fire:
I will not walk that path again,
For Chaos is my sole desire.

The promises that I was made
Are broken now and nothing worth.
Oh, you may laugh at what you've done,
But I shall make it bitter mirth:
You shall have reason to repent
The insults you have offered me,
I'll give you payment threefold now
And take my vengeance utterly.

I walked the Logrus in the dark,
And found a vision beyond sight:
I went into the changing shade,
And now I see a clearer light:
Amid a world that twists and turns,
Where nothing's certain, nothing's sure,
I found a place on which to stand,
I found the balance to endure.

I see the wrongs that you have done,
Forsworn and ever false to me,
Amber shall pay in Amber's blood
For all its constant treachery.
My life hangs on the Logrus now,
Certain am I amid its strife,
My vision clear within its dark,
Chaos my spirit and my life.


DARA : TO MERLIN

My son, you seem to think me too protective,
That I would guard and guide you through your life:
I will not stoop to quarreling about this,
I see no point in so much needless strife.
If you should feel that twenty-five years living
Has freed you from the innocence of youth,
I will not stop you holding your opinions:
But I would not consider it the truth.

Merlin, my son, you are so very young still!
Your claim of wisdom is, alas, untrue:
Why can you not believe me when I tell you
I'm only doing what is best for you?
You give your trust to others most unwisely,
And foolishly expect their loyalty,
Rely on enemies and those that hate you:
The only one you will not trust is me.

My son, you would be well advised to trust me:
I always have your interests at heart,
You know that I am always there behind you,
You know that I will always do my part.
I will not cease to watch you and to guard you
Throughout the many risks you choose to run:
I only do what any mother would do
To safeguard and protect her well-loved son.


DEATH CURSE

Last words. Last bitter words, spat out in hatred
At that which I abhor and most despise,
A curse laid with my last breath as I die here
Before the darkness comes to close my eyes.

Although we do our best, we come to ruin:
Disaster waits around the road's last bend.
Yet still we have one final card to play now:
This much is granted to us in the end.

A final jest: though we shall never see it,
We can be sure our enemies will fall:
But yet we pay the highest price to gain this,
Our blood, our breath, our very lives, our all.

Enough of this: I know my life is ebbing,
My blood is frozen water in my veins,
I've nothing now to lose, no life worth living:
I'll give the gift I've paid for with these pains.

Take now my dying curse, my fullest venom,
Promise and prophecy of my last breath,
With all my power I swear my hate eternal,
And wait for you to follow me to death.


DEIRDRE : FALLING

This isn't how the story's meant to end:
I did my part: why couldn't they do theirs?
Or does it come to this: that no-one cares,
That no-one is prepared to stand my friend?
The last thing I remember: standing there
With Brand behind me, dagger at my throat,
Caine with a bow and arrow, in green coat:
Then Brand fell backwards, hand locked in my hair...
Since then, I hear no noise, I see no light:
Only the feeling of a constant fall,
Nor any words, nor any voice at all:
Only the endless silence and deep night.
And more and more I lose my dreams of light,
That ever there was other than this night.


DWORKIN : BROKEN PATTERN

Observe the Pattern laid before you, boy,
I scribed it long ago in fire and blood:
A Pattern I discovered in a Jewel
Born by a Unicorn once in a wood.
In a real sense, I am the Pattern now,
My mind inscribed in flame in this design:
Whatever harms the Pattern, touches me,
As I am it, its flaws are also mine.

My mind is marred as the Pattern is,
My body twists and my spirit screams,
Run from me, boy, if you would live:
I find no peace in my broken dreams.

Blood of our blood, that leaves the darkest stain,
Has marked the Pattern in its Primal form:
My mind is broken, as the Pattern is,
And dark and twisted as the coming storm.
As every generation marches on,
Still they can mar what once their parents made:
Just as, so long ago, we turned from Chaos,
And our own ancestors we disobeyed.

The broken Pattern has scarred my mind,
Parts of myself have fallen away:
Madness fills me, body and soul,
Flee from me, boy, while still you may.

If you would mend what's marred and heal what's broken,
Then you must trace the Pattern once again,
Bearing the Jewel upon it as you walk it,
Bearing the Pattern deep within your brain.
Pass on your way through darkness and confusion,
Complete the path, and make the Pattern whole,
Remove the family blood that marks and stains it,
Restore the Pattern, and restore my soul.

The blood on the Pattern stains all things,
Darkness in Amber, death in my mind,
There is no place now left to run,
There is no help that I can find.


ERIC : BLACK ROAD BATTLE

I feel my life drain slowly from my body,
My blood resounds like thunder in my head:
Time seems to stop and start between each heartbeat,
My siblings stand like statues round my bed:
Concerned no more with honesty or lying,
But gathered here this hour to watch my dying.

The Jewel of Judgement pulses with my heartbeat,
Its light spills out like blood across my hand:
I hear the cries and gunfire of the battle,
Death of the enemies on Amber's land:
But little reaches now where I am lying,
Only a bitter wailing and faint crying.

Corwin, my brother, long have you disdained me,
But now our enmity is at an end:
I hear your guns reecho in the distance,
My enemy returned to stand my friend.
Our bitter hate no longer now repels us:
It is our love for Amber that compels us.

Were I to speak the truth, you'd not believe me,
Say that I took your sight to save your life:
Now at my passing hour, it almost grieves me
That we have wasted so much time in strife:
Those petty wars which have our lives comprised
So nearly lost us what we both most prized.

By blood and power, by life which ebbs so swiftly,
I lay my dying curse on Amber's foes:
My final gift: I leave the Jewel of Judgement
To you, my brother of the silver rose.
The darkness rises round me as I lie here:
Only the crimson twilight as I die here.


ERIC : TO CORWIN, AT THE CORONATION

Corwin, you are a fool: it isn't just
That you have long despised me, or I you:
You forced my hand: I do what I now do
Not out of vengeance, but because I must.
You let the redheads use you as a tool!
I understand your wish to claim the throne,
But you could not have held it for your own:
You would have died, as you have lived, a fool.
Strange as it sounds, I would not see you dead,
For I would not be named a fratricide:
Though you may often wish that you had died,
You need not fear, my brother, for your head.
This is my mercy, though you'll call it lies:
Take him away and burn out both his eyes.


FIONA : FAMILY OPINIONS IN THE LIBRARY

I wish I could say better of my brothers
Than that they are so very often fools,
And so they let themselves be used as tools:
Though I'll admit some have more wit than others.
While they are running wildly round the Palace,
I'll take what actions I desire alone:
I see no need to have them widely known,
Though I am innocent of all but malice.

Now some of them may dream of Amber's ruling,
But Benedict has no wish for such power,
Random's attention would not last an hour,
And Flora's mind is on her own bejewelling.
Gerard is kinder far than our deserving,
Llewella would be anywhere but here,
One knows too well which way dear Brand would veer,
And I am happy just to sit observing.

Dear Corwin would be glad to send me packing,
Sweet Julian has no heart to thaw his brains:
Of Caine, so lately dead, no trace remains,
And Deirdre in her guts is sorely lacking.
Bleys is the closest of them all to thinking:
But still I'll have to join their little band,
And finally decide where I will stand,
Since all our fortunes are so close to sinking.


FIONA : THOUGHTS IN THE LIBRARY

Brother, I hoped
This would not happen,
But now the family
Is most unwise:
They plan to call
You from your prison,
Call your image
Before their eyes.

This is a thing
I have long feared:
If you should escape
From durance vile,
Win your freedom
From glittering Shadow,
The world may end
In a little while.

Perhaps alarmist?
Not so, my brother,
I knew your plans
As you knew ours.
We only wanted
To conquer Amber,
You would reshape
The Primal Powers.

Bend Creation
Into your image,
Frame the world
In your mind anew:
This we could not
Allow to happen,
So we rebelled
And turned on you.

I cannot risk
The end of all things:
Sisterly love
I now put by:
Beside the Pattern,
Your life is a small thing:
If they should reach you,
Then you must die.


FLORA

Painted lady,
Such a charmer,
Delicate,
And oh, what style!
Perfect face
And perfect body:
Tell me, what's
Behind that smile?

When we're talking,
Asking questions,
You may laugh
Or you may cry:
Feelings pass
Across your face
Like fleeting clouds
Across the sky.

Will you help
Or will you hinder?
Give me aid
Or cause me pain?
If you swore
To stand beside me,
Is it certain
You'd remain?

Lady fair,
Princess of Amber,
Face and body
Works of art,
Though I think that
I can trust you,
I can never
Know your heart.

Painted lady,
Such a charmer,
Delicate,
And oh, what style!
Perfect face
And perfect body:
Tell me, what's
Behind that smile?


FLORA : REFLECTIONS

She smiled at her reflection, which smiled back,
Then turned to look at me, standing behind:
"How can you say I change with every wind?
Do you suggest some flaw, some moral lack?
Sweet child, I stand my ground, I do not change:
But very few are certain where I stand,
And fewer yet would recognise my hand
If I should choose to meddle or arrange.
There are worse things than being thought a flower
Too weak to hurt, too foolish to offend:
We shall see, when the game comes to an end,
Who holds and has held and will hold the power."
She smiled again at her reflected face,
And her reflection smiled with equal grace.


FLORA : STYLE ADVISOR

Such a very daring hairstyle,
I'm not really sure...
Oh? You say we've got invaders
Breaking down the wall?
Well, my dear, at least we'll meet them
Knowing we're in style,
Waving swords and sorcery
Is not the point at all.

So you say that you've got problems,
You've just got engaged
To some mighty Lord of Chaos,
Three days till you wed?
Well, my dear, white's not your colour,
Try a dress in blue,
There, that's so much more effective:
Try to use your head!

Now you claim that somebody has
Stained the Pattern black,
Marked it with the blood of Amber:
Really, what a mess!
Darling, if you have to bore me
With such tiresome stuff,
Stand straight, clean your fingernails,
And change that filthy dress!

Sweetheart, even if all Amber
Is about to fall,
Even if the Pattern's broken,
Chaos at the door:
Think about your Court behaviour,
Curtsey as you smile,
Find some pleasant conversation,
Don't be such a bore!


FLORA : TAKING THE STAGE

Give me my cue. Don't worry, I'll be fine,
I'll play my part as all of you expect:
Now that I have the part, I know my line,
My role assigned, I've no cause to object.
So let me sally forth and take the stage,
Assume the limelight, cynosure of all:
I'll act as is required: composure, rage,
Passion, joy, tears, affection, sorrow, gall...
Here in this passion play that frames my life
I play each role that life assigns to me
With all my heart and will, through peace and strife,
Each moment's role all that I wish to be.
This is my life, my purpose, and my art:
To be what they expect: to play my part.


GANELON

I can't see why you ask me for a word:
You know that I was murdered long ago,
There's nothing of the true me left to know,
Or so your sire King Oberon averred.
My body long destroyed, the name I bore
Borrowed by him to play his little game:
My face, my voice, my skills, all were the same:
What need to speak to me, who died before?
But I was human once, a living man
Who had his own desires, was real as you:
Now nothing is remembered that is true
By Avalon, Lorraine, or all your clan.
You will recall the mask of Oberon,
But not the man who once loved Avalon.


GERARD : A FEW WORDS

Sometimes I'm furious with my kin
That they so often waste their lives
In pettinesses and in hates,
In sharpening their private knives
To stab each other in the back,
While each for their own purpose strives.

I know I'm not as wise as some,
And others think me fool indeed
To keep my word where it is given,
To match idealism with deed,
To offer friendship and forgive,
To freely serve at Amber's need.

But I would call them fools instead
Who shut their eyes and will not see
That Amber is worth more by far
Than any of us, you, or me,
That for the benefits we have
Our lives and service are small fee.

So choose your paths, my family,
Serve here or not, at your own will.
If you serve Amber, I'll be glad:
Take your own way, and we're friends still:
But if you threaten Amber's land,
Then take this warning: I will kill.


GERARD : TO CORWIN



Corwin, look down from where I hold you,
Look at the ground so far below:
Now that I have your full attention,
There are some things that you should know.

See the black road that winds beneath us:
I only need to open my hands,
And you who tried to conquer Amber
Shall perish here on Amber's lands.

Too many deaths and too much bloodshed,
All from the source of the black road:
Are you to blame for this, my brother?
Where is your loyalty bestowed?


You have been long years gone from Amber,
I do not know if you speak true:
Though I admit I am not clever,
There is one thing that I can do.

This is my word and this my promise:
If you are traitor and forsworn,
Blood of our kin upon your conscience,
Hope not to see another morn.

If I should learn that you are guilty,
Think not your blade will save your head:
If I once get my hands upon you,
Then you are dead, my brother, dead.


JULIAN : A MAN FOR ALL SEASONS

I saw a lady standing by a fountain,
Who hailed me as I passed, and called to me,
"Where should I find Prince Julian this morning?
Beside the mountains, or beside the sea?"
"Oh no, my lady, no, he rides in Arden,
Where fresh and green is every growing thing:
If you would seek him, lady, seek in Arden,
Prince Julian loves Arden in the spring."

I saw the lady once again in summer,
She stopped me as I passed, and fain would know,
"Where should I find Prince Julian this morning?
Beneath great Kolvir, by the Pattern's glow?"
"Oh no, my lady, no, he rides in Arden,
Beneath the summer leaves by night and day:
For beautiful is Arden in the summer,
And there Prince Julian would forever stay."

I passed the lady walking in the autumn,
She caught me by the sleeve and asked again,
"Where should I find Prince Julian this morning?
Within the library, with book and pen?"
"Oh no, my lady, no, he rides in Arden,
Rides to the hunt, with steed and lance and hounds,
And the prey's blood makes the dead leaves yet redder:
He spends the autumn within Arden's bounds."

Once more I met the lady, in the winter,
She stood by Amber's walls, and gazed therein,
"Where should I find Prince Julian this morning?
Within the castle walls, among his kin?"
"Oh no, my lady, no, he rides in Arden,
The snow beneath him, the dead leaves above:
If you would seek him, lady, seek in Arden,
For Arden is Prince Julian's only love."


JULIAN : ARDEN'S CHAMPION

If I should ride through Forest Arden,
I think that I should find you there:
Your hawks above, your hounds beside,
These Shadows yours to guard and guide,
The forest under your protection,
And all of Arden in your care.

If I should ask for your opinion,
I do not think you'd care to say:
Your self-control so widely known,
Your thoughts, your dreams, your mind your own,
I do not think you'd even smile -
I think you'd only turn away.

If Amber ever stood in danger,
I know you would be there to guard:
To strengthen her lest she should yield,
To lead her men upon the field,
Her guardian in every peril,
Her steady watch and silent ward.

If I should ask you for your trust,
You would not answer no or yes:
Yet if I'd cause to ask your pardon,
I never would be safe in Arden,
And if you chose to lend your aid,
I'd never know, but only guess.

If I should ride through Forest Arden,
I think that I should find you there:
Your hawks above, your hounds beside,
These Shadows yours to guard and guide,
The forest under your protection,
And all of Arden in your care.


JULIAN : CASUAL ADVICE

Answers? Sorry,
Not an option,
They aren't things
I tend to give:
Guard your mouth
And watch your tongue, child,
If you really
Want to live.

Common sense?
Well, that's no problem,
That I'm glad
To share with you:
Slightly blunt,
The way I put it?
That's your problem,
It's all true.

Apologise?
You'd best rephrase that,
It's not something
That is done:
We don't give them
Or receive them,
Not to you
Nor anyone.

Truth? Well, now
You must be joking
If you think to
Find it here:
You may seek it
If you wish, child,
But you'll find
The price too dear.

That's the way
The game is played here,
If you don't play
Then you're dead.
I must go,
My duties call me:
Watch your back,
And guard your head.


JULIAN : MEETING IN ARDEN

The sun is bright, the wind is high,
And I ride under Arden's trees:
I leave my course to Fortune's choice,
I follow where my quarry flees.
So, brother, tell me where you go,
And I will follow as I may:
A pleasant meeting for us both
On Arden's paths this happy day.

You seem surprised to see me here:
How could it be that you forget?
Arden, and all her Shadows fair,
Have aye been mine, and are mine yet:
I seek no other land than this,
Desire no other place or power
But Arden through the changing year
And Arden through the passing hour.

I think of you most constantly,
You and my other brothers dear:
I would not leave to seek you out,
How fortunate that you are here!
How fortunate that you should pass
Within my lands and my domain:
I give you greeting while you stay,
I doubt that you will pass again.

I fear that I must leave you now:
I go to answer duty's calls,
I trust you will remember me
If you should reach fair Amber's walls.
Go swiftly, brother, as you may:
The road is long, the path is straight,
Perhaps we two will meet again
Before you come to Amber's gate.


JURT : TO MERLIN

You always were the one she loved the better,
Mother's beloved, darling, golden boy:
The power that I strove for and paid blood for
Was nothing to you but a gaudy toy.
I promise you the life that you are living
Will not be one that you will long enjoy.

I've hated you as long as I have known you,
We have despised each other through our life:
You chose to hurt the woman who I care for,
Attack and try to kill her with your knife:
I have no reasons ever to have loved you,
But many for dissension, hate, and strife.

You stole my rightful place in House and family,
Deprived me of my mother's rightful care,
I spit eternal hatred at you, brother,
And counsel you to constantly beware.
May death now be the only peace between us,
And even past that death: I will be there.


LLEWELLA : WATCHING

Llewella,
Lady with the frozen eyes,
So silent,
Nothing comes as a surprise,
Just watching,
From your home beneath the sea,
And waiting,
Until you're where you want to be...

Just watching,
While the others pose and fret,
And waiting,
The game's not over yet,
Just waiting,
While the others run their race,
And watching,
From behind a mirror's face...

Jade green eyes,
So innocent of guile,
And green hair,
That falls to hide a smile,
Your face calm,
So the others never know
If you will
Tell them yes or tell them no...

So tell me,
Where will you take a stand?
And tell me,
When will you show your hand?
When will you
Make your move towards the throne?
When will you
Rise at last to claim your own?

Llewella,
Lady with the frozen eyes,
So silent,
Nothing comes as a surprise,
Just watching,
From your home beneath the sea,
And waiting,
Until you're where you want to be...


LUKE : THE SALESMAN

Just look at it this way, my friend,
(I'm sure that I can name you so),
There are some things that you should know:
I'm sure that then your help you'll lend.

I realise that you feel deceived,
But really that's not so at all:
Perhaps I didn't tell you all,
But tell me, would you have believed?

Think of this possibility,
Both of us win, and neither lose,
We both receive our rightful dues,
I owe you nothing, nor you me.

I give the best deal that I may:
We both come out with equal gain,
We both are freed from further pain:
There's nothing more that I can say.

Except this much: I give my word,
I promise you I won't forget,
I guarantee you won't regret
What we have spoken and averred.

So tell me, partner, how you feel
About these plans that I've proposed,
That you've so thoroughly opposed,
And tell me: do we have a deal?


LUKE : SKATING ON THIN ICE

Just keep on talking, filling up the moments,
Skating upon thin ice until it breaks:
Give them no time to think, to pause, consider:
One single negative is all it takes
To have a house of cards come down in ruin,
And bury me with all the other fakes.

Yes, certainly, be sure that you can trust me,
No, honestly, I'd never dare to lie:
I risk my life by walking here among you,
I've made the effort: surely you can try.
Remember that I never had to do this,
I could have stayed in hiding, passing by.

I could have hidden, spent my life in Shadows,
But I desire, my friend, oh, so much more:
I have the family traits: a wish for vengeance,
Power, and dominion: I shall give the law,
Shall be the ruler, pawn no more to others,
Service a thing I hate and most abhor.

So trust me: let me kiss your hand in fealty,
Or shake your hand in amity as friend:
I'll swear that I have no desire for vengeance,
My only wish is enmity to mend:
But when the time is come, and I have power,
We'll see who'll kneel before whom in the end.


LUKE : TO JASRA

I was the weapon you would strike with,
I was the pawn which you would play,
I was your instrument of vengeance
Long nurtured up against the day
When you would take revenge on Amber
For all the many wrongs you claim:
Mother, I've met my kin of Amber,
And I no longer feel the same.

They're no more treacherous than Father,
They're no more secretive than me:
Brand was my father: I still love him,
I shall not change that loyalty:
But equally they had their reasons
To hunt him down and let him die:
There's no right side, no true solution,
No simple answer floating by.

You said I was mature enough now
To take a gun or bomb and kill:
If that is so, then surely, Mother,
I'm old enough to have free will:
I choose to finish this vendetta,
Make my own way, no more be led:
I'll leave the past and find the future,
The dead may bury their own dead.


MANDOR : AN ENCOUNTER

As I was walking out one day,
I met a man all dressed in black,
His hair as white as winter frost:
He smiled at me and called me back.
He bowed to me and kissed my hand,
And asked that I would walk with him,
He said I'd find my problems solved
If only I should talk with him.

He set a table then for me
With food and wines both fine and rare:
He claimed that my sweet company
Was his sole cause for being there:
He asked me what my troubles were,
And offered me his constant aid:
If only I should trust in him,
I need no longer be afraid.

I told him of my many woes,
And he was kind and listened then:
He said he sympathised with me,
And knew my foes as wicked men:
He dried my tears and took my hand,
And said that he would end my fears
If only I would swear to give
My aid to him in future years.

I smiled again and swore the oath,
And said I would be glad to give
My aid to him through all the years
That I could now expect to live.
He was a kind and noble man,
It only seemed a little claim:
Surely he would not ever ask
An action that would cause me shame.

Now looking back upon that day,
I find myself naive and young:
Blood of his foes upon my hands,
Lies from his mouth upon my tongue,
My mind and heart both bear his mark,
I am his servant, come what may:
I wish that we had never met
When I was walking out that day.


MANDOR : TRUMP CONVERSATION

Why, no: you're not disturbing me at all,
You know I'm always pleased to hear from you.
And so you feel you're at their beck and call,
And that they fail to give you your fair due?
I sympathise: the world's an unjust place,
And no-one values merit as they should.
Your virtues may be written on your face,
But that, I fear, will do you little good.
Perhaps, if I can help in any way...
It's no more than I'd do for any friend:
I'm sure you'll do the same for me, some day -
All good deeds must be paid for, in the end.
With me you can be certain where you stand -
But let's discuss this further. Take my hand.


MERLIN : AFTER PATTERNFALL

I learnt the skills they teach a growing boy here,
Poison and dancing, sorcery and strife:
Perhaps you do things differently in Amber,
No longer use the strangling cord or knife?
Time and again they told me I should hate you:
You were our enemy, eternal foe:
I have no pressing reason now to love you,
You brought me nothing as my sire but woe.

Strange I should see my face so clear within yours,
One change removed, a Pattern's width away:
When first I saw that face, I recognised you,
I could not kill my father, come what may.
I am your son as much as I'm my mother's,
I bear your mark in flesh and blood and bone,
My mother's in my mind and heart and magic -
And all of this is me, and I my own.

I listened to your story as you told it -
The Chaos storm was raging in the night -
From when you woke in ignorance and silence,
To when your brother fell in this last fight.
You aren't the unknown father whom I hated:
A stranger with my face, but lined with pain,
A man with his own life and his own story:
I think I'd like to meet with you again.


MERLIN : BLUE CRYSTAL CAVE

Life is a bitch sometimes: these endless walls
Form one long tunnel, leading always on:
I stalk them like a ghost, I leave no trace,
No mark to say this is the way I've gone.

Crystal walls
Block the sky
Trapped in here
Till I die

Sometimes the world outside seems only dreams,
My memories just one more fantasy.
In this blue-bounded world I hear no voice
Except my own: and it replies to me.

Voice that screams
Through the night
Voice that whispers
In the light

I walk the endless passages:I seek
Some memory, some trace of yesterday:
No mark there when I look: no evidence
That any person ever passed this way.

Nothing here
Naught to see
No-one here
Not even me

My name is Merlin: this I know is mine,
Merlin the son of Corwin: my eyes burn,
My hands twist as I walk these silent halls,
Waiting for him who trapped me to return.

Madness moves
Doom is nigh
I will wait
I won't die


MERLIN : TO DARA

You've shown that you have no respect
For my concerns or privacy,
My judgement or my chosen friends,
Assume my fallibility:
You placed a demon as my guard,
One which I neither want nor need:
You treat me as a playing piece,
Assume I'll follow where you lead.

Mother, why did you give me birth?
Why did you touch my father's life?
You tell me I was born to rule,
To end the centuries of strife:
But more and more it seems to me
You only wish a puppet king,
To serve your will and bow to you
Whenever you should pull a string.

Mother, I thank you for your care,
And all your motherly concern:
But if you think I'll play your game,
You have a lesson yet to learn.
By all the powers I now command,
I swear that I shall make my choice:
If I must rule, I'll rule as king,
Not as your puppet or your voice.


MOIRE : ON RANDOM AND VIALLE

It was the only gift that I could give,
It was the best revenge that I could make:
That she should have some rank with which to live,
That she should be the wife whom he should take.
He caused my daughter's death so long ago:
I swore that somehow he should come to pay,
I'd give him cause for equal grief and woe
If he should be within my power some day.
I never meant to cause her any pain:
He'd leave at the year's end, and she be free,
The rank that he should give her would remain:
But on one point my plan failed utterly.
I did not think she'd follow him above:
I never knew that they would fall in love.


MOIRE : REFLECTIONS ON CORWIN

The woman sitting on the throne
Stares at the water's twisting streams,
Lost for a moment in its flow,
Her mind returns to distant dreams.

Dreams of the man who asked her help,
The prince who bowed before her throne,
Who spent an hour in her arms,
Gave her a ballad for her own.

He left her then without a word
When he his memory regained:
He walked the Pattern through the fire,
And only memories remained.

And now she sits upon the throne,
Or walks between the mirrored walls,
Dreaming of Amber high above
While time around her slowly crawls.


NAYDA

A demon spirit trapped in flesh,
A wandering soul who now is bound,
A traveller who cannot leave
The human body I have found,
A mind who wandered through the skies
Now chained for life to mortal ground.

The geas that was once my chain
Is broken now, and I am free:
But I know not which way to turn
Now that I have my liberty:
I never thought that I could care,
Or feelings have a hold on me.

So many years: I often thought
What I would do when freedom came:
But now I cling to human flesh
And choose to wear a human name:
What once I used and flung away
I now rejoice to own and claim.

If my old destiny is changed,
Then I shall find another one.
If I have lost the Chaos skies,
At least I have the human sun,
And friends whom I can walk beside.
The future's mine: what's done is done.


OBERON : BEFORE WALKING THE PATTERN ONE LAST TIME

My children, when I sired you all
I did not dream the day would come
When you might turn against your sire,
Against your ruler, and your home.
Now one of you has done as much,
Has stained the Pattern with our blood:
I go to mend it, if I can,
I wish that I believed I could.

They say that parents hate the most
The sins they find their children prove
That they once sinned, they know their own:
These likenesses destroy their love.
Just so I see in all of you
These sins which I acknowledge mine,
My blood the shadow that I see
There darkening the Pattern's line.

Now as I stand prepared to take
My final steps, perhaps, of life,
I think of you continuing
Your ceaseless turmoil, endless strife:
I cannot blame you for my faults,
Nor yet expect you to forgive:
My blessing is the only thing
That you can take or I can give.


OVERHEARD CONVERSATION

"Arden is beautiful," I heard him say,
"Yet you, my sister, are more fair by far:
The frost in morning sunlight: the North Star
That shines so glorious yet so far away.
Aurora that illuminates the sky,
Whitest of roses on the scented briars,
Loveliest and most dangerous of fires,
Burning my heart whenever you pass by."
And then I heard a woman's voice reply,
"Brother, I never heard you speak so fair!
Yet if there is no love nor feeling there,
I'll praise the flattery, but know the lie.
I am no hawk, obedient to your call:
I'll come to you for love, or not at all."


PATTERN AND LOGRUS




I was first.
I am the serpent that coils at the heart of the world,
I am the shadow that twists inside your eyes,
I am the change that touches all things,
I am all things.

A simple pattern traced in light
Encompassing all things that be,
A moment out of time and space
Containing all eternity:
A frozen instant, caught in fire,
Without an error or a flaw,
Never to alter or to change,
Ideal, complete, and perfect Law.

Constant motion.
Turn again, change again: take your partners for the next dance.
I contain you, as I contain all things. Look, there you are,
And here I am,
In you.

The Pattern burns in all of you,
In all creation its design,
Within your flesh and bones and blood
Is stamped that bright eternal line:
Marked in your minds and hearts and souls,
A structure nothing can erase,
This universe the child of Law,
And Law shall bind it all its days.

Eternal change,
Change my only constant, my constancy changes:
This is truth: change is the only truth, and I am change:
Walk into my darkness.

I am the truth, eternal truth,
The only truth that can be known,
Structure my nature, all I am,
A Pattern drawn in changeless stone.
A nature that will never change,
Can never change, a constant might:
Come, place your foot upon my line,
Take your first steps into my light.


RANDOM : UPON FINDING MARTIN'S TRUMP

Within the Pattern lay a single card
Twisted and bloodstained, used and left to lie:
I recognised the face, from time gone by,
Knew by whose blood the Pattern had been marred.
Blood of my blood, my son, my only son:
Martin, I only knew you by your name,
Your life, your death, they seemed to me the same
Until I saw the stain where blood had run.
Your life the only gift I ever gave:
I left your mother long ago, to die,
I disregarded you and passed you by:
Not by your side to help, not here to save.
I swear to you, you are not now alone:
Whoever did this shall have blood - their own.


REBMA

Beneath the sea I walk the streets of Rebma,
Leaving no trace behind me as I pass:
Mirrors reflect infinity of mirrors,
Holding eternity behind their glass.

This place, a green-lit parallel of Amber,
Mirrors the mighty city high above:
The streets, the land, the throne, the very Pattern,
Matched to the earthly world as hand to glove.

The water shifts around me, never ceasing,
Eternally in motion, flux, and change:
A place that for a moment seemed familiar
Turns in the pallid light to something strange.

Constant reflection of the eternal city,
Mirror of golden Amber in the sea,
You parallel the passing world above you
From century to silent century.


SHADOW ARMIES : MARCHING SONG

Shadow armies, born to die,
Serve our gods and fight their wars,
Never knowing why we fight,
Just that it's a holy cause.

They appeared from empty air,
As the stories always say,
Ordered us to march with them,
Follow as they led the way.

Fight in the Apocalypse,
Conquer Eric, Evil's Lord,
Win our way to Heaven's gate,
Slay their foes with fire and sword.

If they ask you how we fought,
Say, as brave as soldiers could.
If they ask you how we died,
Say we died as soldiers should.

Say we died with sword in hand,
Faces set against our foes.
If they ask you where we march,
Tell them, where our master goes.

Shadow armies, born to die,
Serve our gods and fight their wars,
Never knowing why we fight,
Just that it's a holy cause.


SHADOW MOTHER

"Why do you weep,
My mother,
Who do you sigh for?"
"Another,
One who once lay
Beside me,
Swore no harm should
Betide me.

"He swore he'd always
Love me,
Though he was high
Above me:
When the dawn came
He left me,
Of all my joy
Bereft me.

"He swore he'd come back
For you,
His heir, would not
Ignore you:
This is my cause of
Sorrow,
He comes for you
Tomorrow."

"Is he a prince?"
"Why, yes, dear,
That much he once
Confessed, dear."
"I shall have power
And fire?"
"If that is your
Desire.

"But now this parting
Grieves me,
As he of you
Bereaves me."
"How long shall I live?"
"Forever."
"When shall I come back?"
"Never."


SHADOW STORM

A storm is rising, rising out of Shadow,
And sweeping all before it now like dust:
Dust in the wind, this bitter wind that screams now,
Screams to destroy creation as it must.

For such a thing is pure and sole destruction,
Black as the bitterest and harshest night,
Twisted and writhing till the eye is wearied,
Tearing the world apart with savage might.

The Shadows tremble where they lie before it,
Ripping like silk and scattering like ghosts:
What use to stand and wait, to try to thwart it?
What use a mighty army, countless hosts?

No use at all: nothing can halt this tempest,
Nothing can still these winds, can hush this blast,
Nothing, I fear, can turn it now from Amber,
Nothing at all can save us at the last.


STEPS OF KOLVIR

Steps of Kolvir
Climb to Amber,
Rearing up
Against the sky:
Carved from stone
And washed by ocean,
Stained with blood
From days gone by.

Once an army
Climbed this mountain,
Fought in pairs
Against the foe:
High above
The bitter waters,
Enmity
From long ago.

Blood ran down
The granite steps then,
Trickled down
To reach the sea,
Marked them red
For all to see then,
Stained them
For eternity.

All that fighting
Came to nothing,
The rebellion
Was done:
Kolvir stands
In peaceful silence,
Granite sparkling
In the sun.

If you choose to
Walk those steps, though,
You will find them
Marked and stained:
Like all Amber,
Blood has marred them:
Innocence
Is not regained.


TIR-NA NOG'TH

I climb the silver steps, to stand on high
Above the shifting sea and moonlit land:
The clouds are far away: I take my stand
And walk the silver city in the sky.
Around me dreams take shape: there a desire
So long repressed, a future I'd refuse,
The paths I didn't take and wouldn't choose,
All crowd around me as I climb yet higher.
But worst of all the things that I have seen
Are visions of the futures I have lost,
Marred by my choice, caught by an early frost,
Which never now shall be but might have been:
Until I almost wish the clouds would rise,
And let me fall to earth, and close my eyes.


TRUMP POETRY

Could I create a Trump with poetry?
Capture a spirit's image in a rhyme,
A single image out of life and time:
Or is this dreaming so much vanity?
I realise I'm talking about dreams
And ghosts that never are nor yet will be,
But please allow me this brief fantasy,
That Amber might be realer than it seems:
That space and time are truly infinite,
And all the dreams we seek there, we can find:
The universe as spacious as my mind,
All possibilities contained in it.
And wouldn't it be nice if it were true:
To have a voice reply, "And who are you?"


TRUMP SCRYING

Spread out the pack. Your family looks at you,
Their faces still and silent on each card,
Each barred against you, watching, on their guard,
Never a way to judge if they speak true.
So cast the cards, and tell me what they say:
Do they suggest betrayal or deceit?
A chance for friends or enemies to meet?
A quiet sunrise and a peaceful day?
There is no way of ever being sure
What the cards mean, what future they portend:
Whatever fate comes to us in the end,
They shall foreshadow it in pasteboard war.
You say this is uncertain and not plain?
Only one thing to do. Cast them again.


THE TWELVE DAYS OF LOGRUS

On the first day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
A Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the second day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the third day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the fourth day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the fifth day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Five Chaos Lords
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the sixth day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Six Elders scheming,
Five Chaos Lords
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the seventh day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Seven emerald daggers,
Six Elders scheming,
Five Chaos Lords
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the eighth day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Eight hellhounds howling,
Seven emerald daggers,
Six Elders scheming,
Five Chaos Lords
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the ninth day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Nine Princes of Amber,
Eight hellhounds howling,
Seven emerald daggers,
Six Elders scheming,
Five Chaos Lords
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the tenth day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Ten Logrus Masters,
Nine Princes of Amber,
Eight hellhounds howling,
Seven emerald daggers,
Six Elders scheming,
Five Chaos Lords
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the eleventh day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Eleven shapechanged Oberons,
Ten Logrus Masters,
Nine Princes of Amber,
Eight hellhounds howling,
Seven emerald daggers,
Six Elders scheming,
Five Chaos Lords
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.

On the twelth day of Logrus, my true love sent to me
Twelve Trumps a trumping,
Eleven shapechanged Oberons,
Ten Logrus Masters,
Nine Princes of Amber,
Eight hellhounds howling,
Seven emerald daggers,
Six Elders scheming,
Five Chaos Lords
Four Shadow Armies,
Three redheads,
Two Pattern-swords,
And a Primal Pattern in a pear tree.


VIALLE

Darkness is all that I have ever known,
That, and the pity of my friends and kin.
And yet I have a vision of my own:
I see not outer form, but see within.
I gave up bitterness long, long ago,
My eyes are blind: I choose not to lament:
I do not miss what I shall never know,
I shall not mourn what I could not prevent.
I seek instead to understand the soul,
To comprehend the strangers whom I find:
The body is the smallest part of all,
The face is but a shadow of the mind.
Be happy with my husband while we may,
To live in peace, and take what comes each day.


WATCHING FOR THE UNICORN

As I was walking out in summer Arden,
I saw the Unicorn beneath a tree:
She paused, and looked at me as though she knew me,
Nodding, as if to say, "Come, follow me."
But then I turned to see the passing sunset,
And she was gone when I returned to see.

As I was walking out on winter Kolvir,
I saw the Unicorn again that day:
She beckoned with her horn, looking towards me,
As if she fain would ask, "Come, if you may."
But then I turned away to see the sunrise,
And when I looked again, she did not stay.

And now I walk through Amber and her Shadows,
Hoping that invitation to regain:
I pass without a rest, still questing onwards,
Never a pause, no place I can remain:
I have no peace until at last I see her,
Until I find the Unicorn again.


YGG

I stand alone here at the end of things,
Marking a boundary that none will cross
Without inviting bitter pain and loss,
My wisdom that which time eternal brings.
How long have I stood here? Since time began
My leaves have grown and withered on the bough,
As many now as then, as then as now,
As many as the Shadows, mortal man.
We are too far apart in thought and mind
For each to comprehend the other's heart:
Though we both speak, we miss the greater part,
There is no understanding here to find.
We have no common ground that I can see:
You are mere mortal: I the endless Tree.

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