In a Welsh Library...pt2

[der meister 3,188]

Following a moody and cryptic message last week, questions swirled around the hockey community about a Welshman named Thomas Crypl, apparently a descendant of a famous leader in Wales. Crypl also introduced the hockey world to his "battle-name", Essian Ravenwing. Today, Ravenwing has promised to reveal more about himself.

 

**************

 

Once again, the library is the setting for Essian Ravenwing, sitting in a beaded leather chair, holding what appears to be the same book as last week. This time, the title can be clearly read from the spine: a collection of works by Alun Lewis, the famous Welsh War Poet. Ravenwing is wearing a well-fitted black coat, with five buckles across the chest. His ice-blue eyes do not leave the page, and he begins to read aloud from Lewis's book:

 

No refuge from the skirmishing fine rain
And the wind that made the canvas heave and flap
And the taut wet guy-ropes ravel out and snap,
All day the rain has glided, wave and mist and dream

 

When Ravenwing completes the passage, he sets the book down on the desk, as before, then leans forward toward the camera. "Edmund Mortimer, once captured by Owain Glyndŵr at Bryn Glas, was held for ransom," Ravenwing said, his low baritone voice solid and strong, "The English King, Henry IV, did not attempt to buy his freedom. Mortimer, betrayed and abandoned, renounced Henry and began to fight for Wales, and eventually married one of Glyndŵr's daughters."

 

Ravenwing pauses for a moment, his steel eyes glazing temporarily as he envisions the situation and the consequences of long ago. "Enemies become family, warriors become lovers, borders and boundaries redrawn over the ages," he murmurs, as if in deep contemplation. Suddenly, his eyes refocus and snap to attention on the camera lens. "In life and in battle, some men are born leaders, shaping the world around them, setting the course of the future by their actions. I am such a man. I am Essian Ravenwing, and I will shape the future."
 

[Phil 5,119]

 While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
            Only this and nothing more.”

[der meister 3,188]

“Prophet!” said I, “thing of evil!—prophet still, if bird or devil!—
Whether Tempter sent, or whether tempest tossed thee here ashore,
Desolate yet all undaunted, on this desert land enchanted—
On this home by Horror haunted—

[Phil 5,119]

I love reading this at Halloween... and then watching the Simpsons version of it.

[der meister 3,188]

1 minute ago, Phil said:

I love reading this at Halloween... and then watching the Simpsons version of it.

 

Perfect combination. Essian doesn't have purple curtains, though.

[Phil 5,119]

Just now, der meister said:

 

Perfect combination. Essian doesn't have purple curtains, though.

 

Just wait until he's drafted by Davos 

[der meister 3,188]

Just now, Phil said:

 

Just wait until he's drafted by Davos 

 

Deep purple curtains in a hardwood library actually sounds sexy as hell. 

[BOOM 8,745]