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English
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Published:
2024-05-04
Words:
449
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1/1
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Angursell: An Anonymous Folk Poem. Commentary and Annotation by Fitzroy Angursell and Jullanar of the Sea

Summary:

When you're an infamous poet, it's inevitable that poems will also be written about you.

Notes:

(See the end of the work for notes.)

Work Text:

There lived a poet mage, well known in the Nine Worlds
He was sharp and bright, and he had a gift with words
The Astandalan court declared him a disgrace
But the ladies thought he had quite a lovely face1

He could write an epic for the ages
Full of irony and wit
But he also filled so many pages
With romantic skits2

A-A-Angursell, Zunidh’s outlaw poet laureate3 
And the notorious Red Company
A-A-Angursell, Astandalas’ greatest threat
They disappeared into infamy

Their travels brought him to the Country of the Moon4 
And to his rogue charm, even she was not immune
She wanted him to stay forever by her side
But he smiled and said that his muse would be his bride

A-A-Angursell, Zunidh’s outlaw poet laureate
And the notorious Red Company
A-A-Angursell, Astandalas’ greatest threat
They disappeared into infamy

But when their arrogance led them to crashing That Party5 
And stealing the Diamond of Gaesion
The Empire declared them a Terror of Astandalas and his rebel poems were banned

Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey
Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey

To capture them became a never-ending strive
And the rebels cried, “You will not catch us alive!”
The people favored them for speaking in their tongue
For this crime alone the Empire would see them hung6 

But one day Fate made a strange decision
Struck the Emperor down dead
Next, his heir, though no one could envision
Who’d come in his stead

A-A-Angursell, Zunidh’s outlaw poet laureate
An ancient curse caught him by surprise7 
A-A-Angursell, Astandalas’ greatest threat
It bound him down with magical ties
A-A-Angursell, Zunidh’s outlaw poet laureate
A prisoner in Emperor’s clothes
A-A-Angursell, Astandalas’ greatest threat
Trapped in taboos and intricate oaths

Oh, those priest-wizards

  1. My face was not all they praised, you know. F.A.
  2. If you think it’s a lot now, you should have seen Aurora before my edits. J.
  3. Thanks Kip. F.A.
  4. My “travels brought” me is certainly fine use of poetic license. I know for a fact the author must be familiar with that little legend about Aurelius Magnus getting stolen by the Sun—which incidentally isn’t true at all, but still—did that poetic parallel not strike him in the slightest? F.A.
  5. Actually that came before, but I bow to the needs of the Narrative. J.
  6. While this is true, please have some respect for our actual crimes. They did take effort to commit. J.
  7. Well, I resent that. I was not “caught by surprise,” I was ambushed. F.A.

Notes:

sometimes you're consumed by the need to write and to read simultaneously and are caught in the middle so you just have to do a Silly to get unstuck