{"sf1_id":1700241,"sf2_id":"5nzOKa1G","title":"Sunstroke","author":"Rob MacWolf","words":364,"posted_at":"2021-03-27T21:59:00.000Z","tags":["Hymn","Poetry","lyric"],"url":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1700241-sunstroke","original_url":"https://sofurry.com/s/5nzOKa1G","image_url":"https://cdn.sofurryfiles.com/submissions/thumbnails/e0/7c/e07cadd9-5910-4322-80d8-dab44b674b23","description":"#12 of poetry\n\n\"Ishamentaru, God of Noon, was in some accounts of the myth held to be the son of Barolan, God of Sunrise. In other accounts they were held to be bitter enemies: it is perhaps to be noted that these latter accounts are very likely to be those in which Barolan himself plays an antagonistic role.\nNotably, the folk hero Coren occupies a similar role in those tales in which he appears: often, but not always, purported to be the Son of Barolan, and antagonistic toward him in direct correlation to the attitude toward Barolan of the tale as a whole. It often argued, from this, that Coren and Ishamentura are different versions of the same figure, perhaps a folk hero deified by a later culture, perhaps a foreign deity demoted to a mortal when his tales were imported.\nSome scholars have argued that Ishamentaru and Barolan were in fact the same deity, for whom different names were used depending on whether they were referred to in a benevolent or malevolent aspect. As disproof of this, I think, I would present the above piece, which if nothing else demonstrates that even in those cases when Ishamentaru was presented as good, he was also presented as nonetheless dangerous.\"","content":"We heard of him in fairy tales,  \nUnfinished epics,\u0026nbsp;songs in braille.  \nFrom all ends of the ending earth  \nWe tracked him to this place.  \nWe each believed the others fools.  \nBut all believe: those are the rules.  \nAt last his trail,  \nLike doubts, did fail.  \nWe saw him. We gave chase.\n\nIshamen means the sun, my son,  \nAnd Taru is the day.  \nAnd he will flee and he will run.  \nDon't let him get away.\n\nThrough mountain passes high we chased.  \nWhere far below sprawled cloudy wastes.  \nOn a cold crag above the sky  \nHe could no longer hide.  \nAnd some of us had lust for gold,  \nFor life unending, power untold.  \nI wanted what  \nI knew not, but  \nI would be satisfied.\n\nAnd Coren is the man, my son-  \nNone was of greater worth-  \nHe wears as cloak, he once was one,  \nTo walk upon the earth.\n\n_\"I'm done with holding back the joy  \nSo touch me not.\u0026nbsp;As fires destroy  \nThe paper doll set down too near,  \nMy light, my heat, will slay.  \nGo back. Or you will live too much  \nTo live. You catch what you can't touch.  \nGo seek your wives.  \nGo live your lives._ _And let me go my way.\"_\n\nIshamentaru is, my son,  \nThe sun of day himself.  \nAll man's desire is just begun  \nTo hunger for his wealth.\n\nI was the hindmost. Slow, I saw  \nThey laid their hands.\u0026nbsp;They broke the law.  \nHe simply smiled as all around  \nThe world became too bright.  \nNow I alone can tell their fate.  \nTheir caution came too small, too late.  \nThat peak is gone  \nAnd I alone  \nThat live have seen his light.  \nSo still I hunt forevermore  \nTo find again what I adore.  \nAll that had stirred my heart before  \nOvershadowed has been.  \nWhat then I sipped, I soon will drink.  \nThat's all that I desire, I think:  \nTo cross that brink,  \nIn that joy sink,  \nThe light to touch again.\n\nTo find him is to die, my son,  \nTo seek him is to live.  \nSo hunt him ever. Ever run  \nAfter what more than anyone  \nCan dream or hope. To touch The Sun  \nIs more than life can give.\n\n  \n  \n\n","series":{"name":"poetry","previous":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1698539-autoimmune-scarring-of-the-myelin-sheath.json","next":"https://fse.anthro.fr/stories/1701076-i-won-t-fear-the-sunlight.json"}}