Read Requiem for the Sun Online

Authors: Elizabeth Haydon

Requiem for the Sun (56 page)

BOOK: Requiem for the Sun
4.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads
Time, it is a tapestry
Threads that weave it number three
These be known, from first to last,
Future, Present, and the Past
Present, Future, weft-thread be
Fleeting in inconstancy
Yet the colors they do add
Serve to make the heart be glad
Past, the warp-thread that it be
Sets the path of history
Every moment 'neath the sun
Every battle, lost or won
Finds its place within the lee
Of Time's enduring memory
Fate, the weaver of the bands
Hold these threads within Her hands
Plaits a rope that in its use
Can be a lifeline, net — or noose.
Oh, our Mother the Earth;
Oh, our Father the Sky,
Your children are we,
With tired backs.
We bring you the gifts you love.
Then weave for us a garment of brightness … .
May the warp be the white light of morning,
May the weft be the red light of evening,
May the fringes be the fallen rain,
May the border be the standing rainbow.
Thus weave for us a garment of brightness
That we may walk fittingly where birds sing;
That we may walk fittingly where the grass is green.
Oh, Our Mother Earth;
Oh, Our Father Sky.
—
Traditional, Tewa
WE are the music-makers,
And we are the dreamers of dreams,
Wandering by lone sea-breakers,
And sitting by desolate streams;
World-losers and world-forsakers,
On whom the pale moon gleams:
Yet we are the movers and shakers
Of the world forever, it seems.
With wonderful deathless ditties
We build up the world's great cities,
And out of a fabulous story
We fashion an empire's glory:
One man with a dream, at pleasure,
Shall go forth and conquer a crown;
And three with a new song's measure
Can trample an empire down.
We, in the ages lying
In the buried past of the earth,
Built Nineveh with our sighing,
And Babel itself with our mirth;
And o'erthrew them with prophesying
To the old of the new world's worth;
For each age is a dream that is dying,
Or one that is coming to birth.
— Arthur O'Shaughnessy
 
Seven Gifts of the Creator,
Seven colors of light
Seven seas in the wide world,
Seven days in a sennight,
Seven months of fallow
Seven continents trod, weave
Seven ages of history
In the eye of God.
Because he saw
Rhapsody
in curlers and a mudpack
and didn't slam the manuscript shut
Because he is willing to take risks
that others would not
Because he refuses to accept less than my best
Because it matters as much to him as it does to me
this book is dedicated
with gratitude and affection
to
James Minz
Visionary
Editor
Friend
Rhapsody: Child of Blood
Prophecy: Child of Earth
Destiny: Child of the Sky
Requiem for the Sun
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this novel are either fictitious or are used fictitiously.
REQUIEM FOR THE SUN
Copyright © 2002 by Elizabeth Haydon
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce this book, or portions thereof, in any form.
Edited by James Minz
A Tor Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates, LLC
175 Fifth Avenue
New York, NY 10010
Tor
®
is a registered trademark of Tom Doherty Associates, LLC.
Maps by Ed Gazsi
eISBN 9781429912495
First eBook Edition : March 2011
BOOK: Requiem for the Sun
4.92Mb size Format: txt, pdf, ePub
ads

Other books

The Dreaming Hunt by Cindy Dees
Ghost Granny by Carol Colbert
First Ride by Moore, Lee
Choker by Elizabeth Woods
Eldritch Tales by H.P. Lovecraft
A Familiar Tail by Delia James
Spectre Black by J. Carson Black
Everything’s Coming Up Josey by Susan May Warren
The Playmaker by Thomas Keneally