This month we have a new poet, keira.

Poetry and song, which in the books are related, have an ancient history of extolling sagas, those multi-chaptered stories of heroes and deeds of mythic proportions. John Norman uses a narrative style prose to provide his original material. Our own Socrates uses tongue-in-cheek commentray to summarize that work. keira here uses epic poetry to further condense an entire book, which is an amazing feat.

The Tale of the Mighty Gods of the Black Mountains
by keira

Unable to withstand the glare of Lar-Torvis’ rays
Curious creatures spend their nights and days,
Tunneled deep within an ice-capped mountain range far
Known throughout Gor as the Sardar.
These six-legged gentle giants topped with globe of gold
Work diligently and endlessly to hold
Advances of human technology at bay
As the counter planet’s eventual fates in them lay.

Communicating by means of motion and scent
Fine appendages of gold tremble and are bent
To drink in defining smells of surroundings and speech
Much time is spent grooming self & all within reach.
Their food is secretion milked from bellies of arthropods
Who turn leaves of Sim into Gur nectar for the Gods.
Possessing brains of eight
Knowledge is imparted to the young through mnemonic plates.

Many times has man passed through the gate
Climbing high only to find his sad fate,
A slave to the Nest, mindless and helpless mul
His journey ending as yet another fool.
These treacherous sheer cliffs of desolate black
Afford no comfort nor for those weary a return back.
Only remnants bones or scratches on stone
As incapable of continuing, they faced death alone.

Should a Gorean take the risk and run amok
They quickly disappear in a puff of blue smoke.
Tis the way of the Nest.
These golden gods have always guided and known what’s best.
Long they have watched over and protected Gor
And will continue to do so for many years more.
Keeping the precious planet viable and pristine,
Its sparkling waters crystalline, air crisply clean.

Creators of the stabilization serum,
Their lives last millions of years before they succumb
To the pleasures of the Golden Beetle.
Yet the Mother of the Nest is no longer fertile.
Long ago did she rise to take her Nuptial Flight
Her now inevitable death creating a plight.
The Priest Kings watch their Mother cling to life staunchly
Until some grow desperate to save the colony.

In hopes of bringing a savior, Ko-ra-ba is destroyed.
Filled with hatred, Tarl sets out, his mighty beast deployed.
Yet unaware that he is pawn well-played
He frees his tarn and ventures beyond that bleak palisade.
Using clever tactics, Tarl wins the brawl
Besting the gleaming white snow larls guarding the Hall,
To enter the Nest, becoming its sole human Matok
Drawn into a desperate race against the clock.

One of the first of five hatched, noble Misk
Secretly nurtures the last hatched male despite its great risk. Survival resting in the hands of one below the Mountain,
Tarl escapes as the planet swiftly begins to come undone.
The Nest is nearly destroyed
As the mighty Kings divide and fight one another, Gor almost slipping into a void.
After a bloody battle the forces led by Misk are victorious
Tarl pursues the lost female egg with zealousness.