Friday, October 22, 2010

The Song ov Elmallahz Kumming, seen 1

This post presents the first scene of Bouk 1 of The Song ov Elmallahz Kumming. This is work from over 15 years ago. You can find the whole poem, properly typeset, in the Reading Room of my website at http://www.shivvetee.com/. However, as I complete Bouk 6, Gottverdammerung, of The Song, (a work long overdue, I confess), I wanted to compare this opening scene to that of Bouk 6, which I will post in a day or so. I hope you will find it an interesting comparison.

So, Bouk 1, Seen 1:

In which Elmallah is overwhelmed by his first impressions of Ertha. He is not yet aware that it is his Presence that has amplified Ertha’s Life with so much more power, beauty, and desire than ever she possessed before. Who is this Elmallah? They are a Being -- compared to you and me -- whose orbit is much wider, whose horizons are far more distant, whose temperature is higher, whose velocity is faster, whose knowledge is not passed down from old time but is direct comprehension.
                    When our Lor comes down,
                    they make us change;
                    They make us greater.

Az if the sunrize
Had not yet begun
And thare on a hill,
Ware the ful moon hung
Entangeld in parcht akkasiyaz,
She muevd, her owtlienz obskure.
                    Elmallah, as he approaches Ertha,
                    is struck by her obscurity and illusoriness.
                    – Comment

Az if thay wer smoke,
Frum a smoldering fiyer
Koiling in kazhewal ternz
Like tendrilz abowt the akkasiya branchez,
Her thots drifted in that wilderness.

Az if erlee don
And the faent kry ov loonz
Made faenter by vaperz
That shrowd the salt marshez,
So her vois wuz vage, misteereyus.

Az if a wouman
Meerlee puling a brush thru her hare,
But in that deseptivlee simpel moshun
A meerreyad illuzhenz surrownded her prezzens,
Exerting thair powwer like a werlpull
Agenst my feer ov her inkoherens.
                    Her image has begun to sharpen
                    as he draws near, but fear stops him.
                    What has he to fear?
                    – Comment

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