### Ballad of Tahtahee

On top of snowy rocky crop
Stood old man staring down on land.
His whiskers an ashen snowy sop,
Crystals melted by stroking hand.

Blue orbs like day sky horizon,
Wet and bleeding with his lament,
"Why taketh my child, sister's son?
Eateth my wife, daughter's aunt?"

Tahtahee cried to Youtl,
Cloak who covers celestial lights.

"Madness wrought in village you have!
Pulling your cloth to blind wompas!"
Old man hollered with all he gave,
Pain, anger, betrayal a guiding compass.

Tahtahee leapt at Youtl,
Cloak who covers celestial lights.

And dragged his darkness with him
Into the deep crevice.

Progress strangles growth
Chrysalis, biding, time
Waiting to be freed

Shadows embrace light
Quiet, hushed, waiting
For all to be dark

- Translated by Jus Grizol from ancient scroll found near a rare artifact.

Photography by Wally

An old frozen glacier
Northern lights fall on twilight
And coldness descends.

There the beast stood tall.
Yet but a shadow was it.
Ever changing form.

DO NOT FEAR THE DARK - A Selinian children's poem regarding the Caxqette.

...

Do not fear the dark,

for it’s the light they lurk within. They hide in plain sight, through smiles and a grin.

Do not fear the dark,

lest they smell all your fears. Potent and sour, the taste of your tears.

Do not fear the dark,

Selen grows hungry. The wilds thrash and drool, all violence portrayed bluntly.

Do not fear the dark,

A caxqette won't discriminate. Rich or poor, all kinds they will terminate.

Do not fear the dark,

It won’t make a difference. Brave or a coward, you pray it spares you this instance.

Look not to her den
the broodmother of life
She desires its warmth
and bathe in its strife

Speak not of birth
for the children not her own
The bringer of life
creates form from what is sown

Listen not to the call
that siren song she foments
It invites the unwitting
to her progeny's torments

- A brief canticle of Tunca Selenian origin

Eulauti's Chant:

Brewing ice, frothing from beneath,
Surface melting, to bubbling, lightning sunders the land.

We tremble, fumble, offer our hand,
Though it may be struck, its a price of no match to his.

Even at his anger, we pray,
For his blessing to further our hounds and spears.

There once was a god named Eulauti
Whose legs were as thick as an oak tree
The oceans he swam
and far across land
And all could see he was lordly

Blood runs very cold
Fighting to preserve what’s left
Against Gods upset

Frozen in Winter
The Ancient ones watching all
Icy and bitter

The gods will arise
their followers are marching
across all the lands