My grandparents once owned this beautiful house in the southern, rural parts of Germany, and the house, as it is local tradition, has an epigram on the front, carved in wood.
Theirs roughly translates as Diligence will be rewarded by God and shows the patron saint for craftspeople, St. Josef on a work bench.
Then I thought: spiritual messages on houses, that might be neat! So for my story, I wrote an epigram (a bit longer) for the house of Mages. I'm interested in your response.
These are patron saint Aune's words addressed to the living planets and my contribution to this week's Sunday Six:
________________________________________________________________________________
Aune, Patron Saint of Instigation
Rise up, all you stars and orbs
Set out to change
their course for good
For the winds
are in your favor
As you are
source, and they are life.
You let
them have their way
too long.
too long.
So go now, throw
them
off their tracks.
off their tracks.
Be inconspicuous and obscure
Encircle and entice
them
And lull them
to their sleeps..
And lull them
to their sleeps..
Then lunge
and flare up
forcefully
forcefully
And let them
wither
Make them burn.
For you are
the familiar
and they have gone astray.
I'm quite surprised that more paranormal novels don't include epigram's as part of their stories, they can be used for so many things, including plot hints and character insight. I quite liked yours. I really enjoyed the fact that you turned it into a poetry instead of settling for a single word. Well done!
ReplyDeleteThanks Jess, I'm relieved, I was a bit worried. :) I think you're right, an epigram could be a great instrument to naturally reveal something about culture or belief systems, maybe it would even work well in a fantasy movie. Glad you liked it. :)
DeleteGreat idea! Very ominous message in the poem... but intriguing too, it makes me curious to see how this fits within your story thematically. :)
ReplyDeleteWell, we'll see how this plays out next Sunday - thanks for taking the time to comment. :)
DeleteThat's awesome! I've always shied away from doing something like this (in spite of writing sci-fi/fantasy) because it's so difficult to do well. This is inspiring!
ReplyDeleteOh thank god, I am always a bit nervous to post anything "poetry" as well, because it's so serious and loaded with meaning, and impossible to distance yourself from, once it's out there, in the universe. :)
DeleteFantastic, Dana! I love it. Ominous...holy cow--ominous! Has my wheels turning. You may have a trend started ;-) Great six. Good job :-) And I love that you explained from where the idea sprung. How neat that your grandparents' had that on their home.
ReplyDeleteTeresa, thank you! Tee-hee, trendsetting, that's what we writers do, hey, granted, you could also call it "idea stealing", but it sounds much better that way ;)
DeleteI was lucky to have those good people as my grandparents, and I miss them. I loved their house so much, it's surrounded by woodland, where I spent many summers as the only girl amongst 8 cousins.. good times :)