The Healing Of The Crystal

[abiraniriba]

The Healing Of The Crystal​

To the Reader: This poem is based on the Aughrian manuscripts translated by linguist J. J. Llewyn in the book “The World Of The Dark Crystal.” The book is based on the movie “The Dark Crystal” produced by puppeteer Jim Henson and fantasy artist Brian Froud.
The opening quote is from the Wall of Destiny which was not created by Aughra, but by the Gelfling in an effort to see if their world would ever be restored.

abiranariba

“When single shines the triple sun
What was sundered and undone
Shall be made whole
The two made one
By Gelfling hand or else by none.”

Every nine hundred and ninety-nine and one trine
Our three suns form a line
During the first one
I was formed of rock and wood and stone
Of the race of Aughra, I, Aughra, was and am alone.

From the music of the air
Came the Gelflings
From the wind
Came the Landstriders
From the plants
Came the Pod People

During the second time
The three suns as one did shine
The urSkeks came, their number was two times nine.
Dual was their nature
Triangular was their form
To purge themselves of evil to our world they had come
They would do it when next single shines the triple sun.

Only in our world with such power did the Crystal shine
That they could accomplish a feat so divine.

For nine hundred and ninety-nine and one trine
They waited for the three suns to form a line
And then came the right Trine
But oh, what a mistake
For this purge one into two did make
And urRu and Skeksis were shaped
As urSkek walked into the light
Out he came as two, Skeksis to the left, urRu to the right.

To the Valley of Stones the urRu fled
But soon after eight of them were dead.

The Skeksis took over the castle
They broke the Crystal so no longer it would shine
But with the urRu their souls were still intertwined
And of them died one less than nine.

The Gelflings had much to fear
As strange creatures began to appear
From the dreams of skekUng brother of the healer urIm
Came the brutal ones called Garthim.

The Gelflings and the Pod People were soon taken away
Slaves to the Skeksis became they
The few that were left created the fires of prophecy
Out of which came the Wall of Destiny
The number of Gelflings that saw the sign
Was forty plus nine
The broken piece of crystal was to be found
When only two of them were around.

This prophecy was also witnessed
By the Skeksis
Five false shards did they create
In an attempt to confuse and thwart fate
To me all six shards the Gelflings brought
But my efforts to find the right one were for naught
Then the Skeksis killed all the Gelflings
Both slave and free
In an attempt to further frustrate destiny.

Of the Gelflings the Pod People saved one
And urSu The Master, skekSo The Emperor’s brother, saved another
When the trine was right, urSu chose death
Thus upsetting the Skeksis’ balance
And giving Jen the chance.

And so Jen embarked on his quest
Until he came to my nest
“Come for the shard I am.”
said he
“See if you can find which one’s real or sham.”
said me
Of music were the Gelfling
So by his flute he found the right ping.

Then they came
The Garthim
My home and observatory they laid to waste
While Jen fled in haste.

To the castle they took me
And to the castle Jen ran
All this in keeping with destiny’s plan.

Through the land of the Pod People Jen passed
And there he met Kira, of the race of which he thought he was the last
Atop the Landstriders the two of them rode to the Wall
And there they found each other’s call.

As toward the castle pressed Jen and Kira
So did a line of urRu drawing nearer.

In order that Jen might restore the Crystal’s health
Kira to the Skeksis’ swords sacrificed herself
And as the three suns as one did shine
The Skeksis and the urRu did once again intertwine
And UngIm brought life back to everything
Including the fallen Gelfling.

“When single shone the triple sun
What was sundered and undone
Was made whole
The two made whole
By Gelfling hand, or else by none.”

abiranariba​

 

[Whatever]

Nice! I liked the first six verses the best- very haunting. It seemed to lose that quality of dreaminess when you started to tell the actual story. I think you might do better to tell the plot in a series of shorter poems. (I'm trying to give construtive critism, don't hate me). And is trine a real word? I just wondered...

 

[abiraniriba]

Thanks for the thoughts

Nice! I liked the first six verses the best- very haunting. It seemed to lose that quality of dreaminess when you started to tell the actual story. I think you might do better to tell the plot in a series of shorter poems. (I'm trying to give construtive critism, don't hate me). And is trine a real word? I just wondered...

The word trine is from the book "The World Of The Dark Crystal" to quote the book "'Trine' is the least unsatisfactory rendering of antep. The most obvious difference between our world and one blessed with three suns is in the methods of indicating time. In the world of the Dark Crystal, day and night are far from the opposites they appear to us; nor is there a regular alternation of summer and winter. What we have called a trine, is a cycle of the Great Sun or, in our time scheme, a year." While you probably won't find the word trine in a dictionary, my guess is that J. J. Llewellyn (I misspelled the name in my original reference) blended the words triple and time to create the word.

The names of the individual urRu, Skeksis and Urskeks also come from the book.

Unfortunately the book hasn't been in stores for a long time. My copy was given to me by Jane Henson (that's a story for another time), but I had read the book before at the main branch of the New York Public Library. Hopefully with the advent of the sequel the book will come back into print soon, or maybe there will be CD-ROM version of it. While I liked the movie the first time I saw it, I had a hard time understanding much of it till I read the book. The book gives the much needed prequel which tells of the origin of the world and of the Urskeks. After I read the book I watched the movie again and liked it much better because I could understand more of it. I then wrote the poem borrowing much more from the book than from the movie.

 

[Whatever]

My copy was given to me by Jane Henson (that's a story for another time),

Make sure you tell us about it sometime! That rocks!

 

[abiraniriba]

I sure will

Watch for the story of how I met Jane and Brian Henson in the Friends And Family section of the forum. It's quite a story.