Poems of the North

Table of Contents

Smrtohnya

The Harandil Pantheon features 10 spirits known as "Smrtohnya" which have a variety of different ways to be worshiped. Some elves simply appreciate the existence of one or more Smirtohnya in their daily lives or work, others might devote their entire existence to one specific Smrtohnya as monks or other religious figures, some might just pray once a week or once a year go on a pilgrimage. Whatever their method, each Elf is at least aware that these Smrtohnya effect their lives in some way or another.

Chamtivost, the Burning Greed

From "Contemplations on Currency", an Elven mercantile handbook

As the flame consumes
Burning the wick, melting the wax
It knows that it will die
Only to return again, burning anew
We produce new goods
Travel the land, sell our wares
And the money we make will be added
To his hoard, prized like all before us.
Love, trust, friendship all fade
And when they burn bright we know
That they are treasured above all
And that they will return again, burning anew
We paint and write, all is valued
All will be collected, hoarded
And protected by the wings spread wide
A number on a ledger, something new to find.
The candle flame does not spread
It knows what it needs, what it wants
Consuming what glints and catches eyes
While new things are made to burn anew.
We each have a value
A thing to make us unique
These things will be taken and honored
A place for us exists within his hoard.

Remeselne, The High Artisan

Song of the Artisan, Crafting Folk Song

Turning
Crafted
Working
Together in this wheel
Against each other
Pushing
The forces pull us
We are whole
Together
A Community
A Working Machine
Clockwork
Each piece finely tuned
Ticking with each second
Chiming with each hour
Day after Day we move about
along this cog we turn
Hammers
Metal
Shining, reflecting
Chisels
Wood
Pushed together, individuals
Kept together, crafted
A new image
A new whole

Zvuk, The Resonance of All

By the Famous Elven Poet, Iva Vytv'riť

Crickets chirping in the silent dark of the evening, wind rustling through the leaves
The silent footsteps of a Jester, the forgotten embrace of death
Sound comes from us all, no matter how quiet
And in the still of night, nothing moves
But we are still resonating
Harmonizing
Breathe
The glass chimes
Fates brought in threes
The past, present, future we glean
And in the darkness we still have each other
The resonance, it connects us all
Like waves through water
Each one an impact
Each one a song
We are three
And one
Breathe
And sing into
The air of twilight
When all is still and hearing
The song of the aether and wind
The song of the body and mind, stretched thin
Harmonious, perfection, an emblem to wholeness, separate
And the waves that we create with our sounds break free of the darkened light

Trvanlivé, The Mountain's Bulwark

The Sturdy Oath, as proclaimed by Elven Guardsmen upon initiation.

When the frightened need a shield, I will guard them
When the King-and-Queen needs a sword, I will fight for Her-and-Him
When the City needs a wall, I will protect it
When the mountain needs a bulwark, I will provide respit
My Shield will be sturdy, my arm without wary
And my body a mountain, unmoving.

Chladný, The Empty Balance

The Mantra of Chladný's Monks

To be so strong, as an oak with branches long
the wind would blow and only leaves are lost
And as the branches empty, so do my thoughts
Negative, positive, to be tilted is encumberance
Good, Evil, to consider perspective is madness
Stoic and cold, the snow my only thought.
Preferences, goals, ambitions are disappointment
A life lived in balance is never let down
Express my thoughts, emotions, let them flow
Freed from my mind and safe from the reel
Let meditation and conversation carry me like a river.
Let my mind be uncoiled
Let my soul be unwound
Let my body be untormented
Breathe and feel the cold, cold Snow connect to the ground.

Mŕtvy, The Unwalked Path

Common Elven prayer for the departed

Oh guide, floating and exposing uncovered, dangling feet
A dread or a comfort, a frightful spectre or gentle friend
The paths we walk, like all things, must come to an end
We know not where you walk
When the circle completes, rejoining its beginning
The memories of our lives are taken
Before the curtain parts, and life starts anew.
Please keep them safe
Let their journey be unhindered
Let their Circle return them to us
And let the joy they brought to so many be with them always.

Skorumpovaný, The Consuming Decay

From the archives of the Necromancer Božena

Dripping, Oozing, Flesh bursts against the bloat
A held back anguish, rotting away all that I see
A corruption, expanding beneath the surface
And a million faces expressing terror as they flee
There will be only death, and from the death I will draw strength
The strength to break the circle
The strength to end the cycle
The strength to destroy those that would threaten my fate
Fevers, mites, ticks and the blackened branches of a mighty Oak
Bring about the undeath, a path walked
Forget peace and sanctity,
embrace the need to fight back against the inevitable.
And bring about a new world, where life is forgotten.

Vzduchu, The Drifting Freedom

As recited by H'ann Zadar, Traveling Poet and Alcoholic

I felt what could only be
The regret of not being there
The pain of being free
And my spirit being dragged behind me.
My worries that I had made a mistake
That the world would move somewhere without me
And the loss of them from my life
Caused a fear that cannot be expressed.
But as I pondered the possible paths
Ones unwalked and still ones unthought
Their breath graced my back, a gentle caress
And it pushed me beyond where I thought I needed to be
Another step severed me from these attachments
Lifted me from the ground like a truly free spirit
Pushed me along like a leaf on the wind
And I knew I was going where I belonged
And I knew I was going to be free.

Voda, The Torrential Flow

From the mumblings of renowned psychic Idra Prúdi

From their minds I see it flow
The thoughts that I somehow know
And when they connect with me I Feel it
The anger and hate, the sadness and loss.
The flow of a river, it carries time and misery
A forgotten memory long since devoured by the ages
But it makes its way to me,
and the torrent fills my mind like a cup.
Crashing waves, a downpour of rain
I can feel their fear and their pain
My own emotions barely bound
And by the grace of Voda I channel them.

Cievka, The Coiling Madness

From the notes of Doctor Juraj Uzdr'a'iť
Listen Here

Working against me, twisting my words
Get me out of this place, get me free
Walk
Need a break... be right back.
Forgotten
Writing, wishing, need a well
Bring out the best water, fill it with more
A cup that overflows, it has no bottom, it pours back into the well
It wraps around, around, around, around, around, around, around, around ,around
Work on it again in the morning
There's more yelling outside, it gets quieter the harder I listen
Their words aren't mine to hear, they aren't mine to say
But my mouth moves along with theirs
IT shouts for me, it says the words that I didn't
They are mad now
I'm sorry
Love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love, love
Its back is rough, but smooth, but filled with holes and the spots that need filled
My hand passed through it once
It never came back out, and now the blood stains my bedsheets
But I'm still alive, still writing, still thinking of it and how it loves me and my mind
IF MEMORY SERVES AND IT SERVES WELL I DID NOT SERVE IT WELL
and the memory that it did serve me was not one from the well.

---

Melancholy

Melancholy is a series of poems telling the story of a traveler wandering through the Spirit World. The writer claims that they would occasionally enter a fugue state as if channeling someone else. Some critis claim that they were just drunk, or perhaps high on something, but there are also those out there that believe they really did experience pieces of someone else's life.

Knowledge

and i am pried open
the heart smiling at the world
the world pulling me asunder
as we are one in each other
walking this path, it has changed me
becoming not another but a different me
drinking from the same cups
and smiling differently
where will i be
tomorrow is another day
travel away from me
turn away toward th-

Drenched

Forceful
I try to push the words out
they are absent
nowhere to be found
am i dead?
am i here?
what is here?
forgetting all the times
all the times I made you happy
but still I remember
all the times that you were happy.

Death

They have awoken
stretching out of the ground
reaching for the above
escape the below
Ò̵̆ͅO̸͙̰͉̍S̶̠͛͆͛͑R̴̠̅̈̇͝C̷̨̳͗̒̈́̎N̶͇̣͌̌̄̀Ǔ̷͇S̴̤͠ͅḪ̷̓͐U̸͙̳͐̓̈́̓
My memories are not his
but I cannot say they are mine
walk away
walk away

Descent

i am dripping
and each piece of me that falls
is less and less a piece of me.
where do i escape to?
what do i escape from?
are they not a mark, an ideal, a death?
i am trying to find a way back home
but the roads all lead
away from you all
good luck, Sister.

Secrets Forgotten

I strip away all of my flesh and lay myself bare
so that you might see me
i peel away my mask and gaze out into the world
so that i might see you
i lay out my secrets in front of the world
so that you might see them

Alone in an Empty Book

With each word, a page soon filled
that i might help you remember them
though my mind will empty
this book, long and of my will
shall carry on and find you
and one day bring you home
to see our parents, still
am i truly alone here?
surrounded only by the walls
and the unrelenting fear
that what they tell me is true
the floor boards creak
they tell me that
"no one escapes alive"
and that I'll never again see you

my mind a book
the pages of you missing
but they are out there
soon to be found anew

Wander

Here is the sea of glass
and sand
we will be dead here.
my hand is pressed against the wall
and the outside presses against me
we are not
we are not
we are not
and though we are not
we are away, and here
a mind that swims up
the river is forgotten

Disconnect

i watch as i crawl
away from another
piece of my own mind
and i see myself die
lost in a river, and flowing
away from my memories
misery welcomes my heart
and delusion, my mind

---