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.1986.

by xhën

/

about

The poem which is recited over this piece was written for a college class when I was 20-ish. I never thought I'd use it for anything, but here we are. And here is the shiort essay I wrote, describing why I wrote it. Enjoy.:

"The Barbarian Muse"- An Essay


Throughout Greek history, there has always been a large divide between the Greeks (those who spoke and lived as Greek) and the Barbarians (those who didn't speak Greek or live according to the Greek lifestyle). However, not much detail is given in Greek writing about the Barbarians, other than the fact that their language sounded like the words "bar bar bar" and that they were basically simpletons in comparison to the Greeks. However, in the myth I decided to create, there is one Greek goddess who has chosen to follow the Barbarians rather than the Greeks. This goddess doesn't have a name (yet), but she is one the muses who, after declaring her dominant interest in the Barbarians, was turned into a half-mortal and cast out from Greece forever. So, basically, she is the inspiration for the Barbarians, so that they may create art and sing songs just as the Greeks do.(hence the travelling songs of hunter-gatherers of the past, and ritualistic music, etc.) Her gift to the world was music, and even today, people who aren't Greek- whether in language or lifestyle- can still be artists/performers/poets if they so choose to be.

lyrics

"The Barbarian Muse"

I am a dark, trembling flower
resting among achy desert sands
moonlit, and restless.
I am a well of deep, oil-painted water
on a canvas of pale, pale moonlight.

I am the demon to be punished...
the savior to be praised.
I am the lost face of the forbidden crowd,
the last of my kind, the first of anew.

I am the reaching light
the resounding dark.
I am the tunic of madness
the muse, the spirit
the blackness
the void

I am the cure to a barbarian fate,
and the barbarian fate itself.
I am joy
I am sorrow
the epitaph to the soul
the porcelain fountain
the sad brown eyes of a dog
the flailing arms of a child...
I am the muse,
the breath.

I am the follower of your design.
I am frailty
I am beginning
I am end
the antiquity
the ancient
the reality
the lie.

I am the first breath of spring
I am the ancient aching of a god

I am the incantation
the spark that arises
the flame extinguished...

I am
(The Barbarian Muse)

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credits

released August 11, 2019

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all rights reserved

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xhën New York, New York

Music comes to me and I let it out.

Also known as TheGracefulBard on Twitch (since that's a thing now!! :D)

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