Hymns to Neptune VI
The fruits of the greatest sacrifice - that of self in the service of Life - can redeem whole worlds. Following is a passage from Robert R. McCammon’s wonderful novel Swan Song (New York: Pocket Books, 1987). It was became of Sister’s tremendous courage, persistence, patience, and gritty tenacity that Swan, the LightBringer, was rescued and the death of the whole living world due to the instigations of the demon “Friend” was prevented. (You just gotta read the novel, that’s all there is to it!)
Sister smiled. In Swan’s eyes she could see the
colors of the glass crown. Her mouth trembled and
opened again.
’One step,’ she whispered.
And then she took the next.
They stayed around her as the sun warmed their
backs and thawed out their muscles. Josh started to
close Sister’s eyes - but he didn’t, because he knew
how much she loved the light.
Swan stood up. She walked away from them, and
dug her hand into her pocket.
She brought out the silver key, and she climbed up
on a boulder and walked to the edge of Warwick
Mountain.
She stood with her head held high, staring into the
distance. But she was seeing more armies of fighting
and frightened men, more guns and armored cars, more
death and misery that would still be lurking in the minds
of men like a cancer waiting to be reborn.
She gripped the silver key.
Never again, she thought - and she flung the key
as hard and as far as she could.
Sunlight winked off it as it fell through space. It
bounced off the limb of an oak tree, hit the edge of a
boulder, fell fifty more feet into a small green pond
half hidden by underbrush. As it drifted through the
water and into the leaves at the pond’s bottom it stirred
up several tiny eggs that had been hidden there for a
long, long time. Shafts of sunlight stroked the pond
and warmed the eggs, and the hearts of tadpoles began
to beat.
Josh, Swan and Robin found a place to let Sister’s body
rest; it was not sheltered by trees or hidden in shade, but
lay where the sun could reach it. They dug the grave
with their hands and lowered Sister into the earth.
When the grave was filled again, each of them said what-
ever was on his or her mind, and they ended with ’Amen.’
Three figures came down off the mountain.
- Ibid., pp. 941-942
The days passed.
And high up where Warwick Mountain’s peak almost
touched the sky, tiny seeds that had been scattered by
the whirlwinds and stirred to life by the fingers of a
girl with hair like flame began to respond to the sunlight
and send out fragile green stems.
The stems searched upward through the dirty, pushed
through the surface and into the warmth, and there they
bloomed into flowers - red and purple, bright yellow,
snow-white, dark blue and pale lavender.
They glowed like jewels in the sunshine and
marked the place where Sister lay sleeping.
- Ibid., pp. 952-953
“Lost Boys and Golden Girls,” by Meatloaf
Click to view“City of New Orleans,” by Arlo Guthrie - Sagittarius rules the railroads; Neptune, the nocturnal Lord of Sagittarius, rules their slow dying and the memories of their glory days
“The Ballad of Reading Gaol,” by Oscar Wilde
This one's long: you can see it at http://emotionalliteracyeducation.com/classic_books_online/rgaol10.htm
“Objects in the Rear-View Mirror May Appear Closer Than They Are,” by Meatloaf
The skies were pure and the fields were green
And the sun was brighter than it's ever been
When I grew up with my best friend Kenny
We were close as any brothers than you ever knew
It was always summer and the future called
We were ready for adventures and we wanted them all
And there was so much left to dream
And so much time to make it real
But I can still recall the sting of all
The tears when he was gone
They said he crashed and burned
I know I'll never learn
Why any boy should die so young
We were racing, we were soldiers of fortune
We got in trouble but we sure got around
There are times I think I see him peeling out of the dark
I think he's right behind me now and he's gaining ground
But it was long ago and it was far away,
Oh God it seems so very far
And if life is just a highway,
Then the soul is just a car
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And when the sun descended and the night arose
I heard my father cursing everyone he knows
He was dangerous and drunk and defeated
And corroded by failure and envy and hate
There were endless winters and the dreams would freeze
Nowhere to hide and no leaves on the trees
And my father's eyes were blank
As he hit me again and again and again
I know I still believe he'd never let me leave,
I had to run away alone
So many threats and fears, so many wasted years
Before my life became my own
And though the nightmares should be over
Some of the terrors are still intact
I'll hear that ugly coarse and violent voice
And then he grabs me from behind
And then he pulls me back
But it was long ago and it was far away,
Oh God it seems so very far
And if life is just a highway,
Then the soul is just a car
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
There was a beauty living on the edge of town
And she always put the top up and the hammer down
And she taught me everything I'll ever know
About the mystery and the muscle of love
The stars would glimmer and the moon would glow
I'm in the back seat with my Julie like a Romeo
And the signs along the highway all said,
Caution! Kids At Play!
Those were the rights of spring and we did everything
There was salvation every night
We got our dreams reborn and our upholstery torn
But everything we tried was right
She used her body just like a bandage,
She used my body just like a wound
I'll probably never know where she disappeared
But I can see her rising up out of the back seat now
Just like an angel rising up from a tomb
But it was long ago and it was far away,
Oh God it seems so very far
And if life is just a highway,
Then the soul is just a car
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
And objects in the rear view mirror
May appear closer than they are
She used her body just like a bandage,
She used my body just like a wound
I'll probably never know where she disappeared
But I can see her rising up out of the back seat now
“Green Door,” Bob Davie and Marvin Moore, copyright 1956 by Alley Music Corporation and Trio Music Company, Inc. This popular song of the 1950s celebrates the clandestine, the secret, the hidden, and the forbidden fruits of drugs, drink, or dames associated with the speakeasy and the bordello.
Midnight, one more night without sleepin’,
Watching till the morning comes peepin’,
Green door, what’s the secret you’re keepin’?
There’s an old piano and they play it hot
Behind the green door.
Don’t know what they’re doin’ but they laugh a lot
Behind the green door.
Wish they’d let me in so I could find out what’s
Behind the green door.
Knocked once, tried to tell ’em I’d been there,
Door slammed, hospitality’s thin there,
Wonder just what’s goin’ on in there.
Saw an eyeball peepin’ thru a smoky cloud
Behind the green door.
When I said Joe sent me someone laughed out loud
Behind the green door.
All I want to do is join the happy crew
Behind the green door.