Sensitivity

Huginn: What happened?

Muninn: That question is beginning to irk me. You're Thought, for Heaven's sake. Think.

H: I think that whatever happened was because someone had too sensitive a skin.

M: Well, that's the reason, but what was the event? Non-events are not my forté.

H: The sun burns. The waters wash. All is changed.

M: If I were more sensitive, I'd be irritated.

Ravens 020

when nimrod came marching home again
hurrah hurrah
they gave him a hearty welcome then
hurrah hurrah
the boys were awed and the men looked fierce
for bronze will always leather pierce
and they all looked gay
when nimrod came marching home

he gave them stories of iron too
hurrah hurrah
and of gilgamesh and enkidu
hurrah hurrah
the women swooned and the soldiers wept
for all that passed while heaven slept
and they all looked gay
when nimrod came marching home

he turned them all out in warrior kit
hurrah hurrah
save those too small or too large to fit
hurrah hurrah
and blood was shed while the cities built
and all was dead without much guilt
and they all looked gay
when nimrod came marching home

the cities still stand upon the plain
hurrah hurrah
every age destroys them again
hurrah hurrah
for that which is built upon the mud
of flood-plains thickened up with blood
will be all cooked clay

and nimrod's not coming home

Disappointment

Huginn: Our boy has let us down. I remember that I thought he would make a good lord. He could always rise to the occasion. But now he thinks himself as one among the great and has forgotten us.

Muninn: Our boy has let us down. I remember him as one squabbling with the rest. But always taking pains to advance his own agenda. He has never remembered a mentor or forgotten a slight.

H: At least we are not a slight.

M: But he thinks us inconsequential.

H: Well, I suppose that to him we are slightly inconsequential, even though we did appoint him.

M: Well, we will just have to see about disappointing him then.

Exclusive

Huginn: I think I am getting cross-eyed.

Muninn: Why are you looking both ways at once?

H: Because I see a train-wreck with one eye and redemption with the other.

M: Why not look only at one of them at a time?

H: Because they look like they have equal probability and exclude each other.

M: That's silly, my love. If that were true, you could look at one and know the odds for the other. The problem is that you just want to see everything at the same time. For me, it's playback time.

Ravens 019

watched the curtain coming down
iron drapes and steely frown
half the world is coloured red
half is blue and others dead

domino effect they say
live to fight another day
but the pieces black and white
locked in never-ending fight

war in space has saved them now
see the cowboy take a bow
yet the world is falling still
ravens circle round the kill

Political

Huginn: There was this fad for a while, women ruling things. Seemed all right to me.

Muninn: It was very stable. Some people didn't like it though. Everything worked, but nothing changed.

H: That was how it was at the beginning, I think. It lasted a few days.

M: Well, with men in charge, everything changes but nothing works.

H: I think that black is an elegant colour for submarines, aircraft, cars and leaders.

M: I remember the days when we were birds of colour. But now they look at us and all they see is black.

Gerontocracy

Huginn: I've been thinking.

Muninn: That's your job, as I recall.

H: About the way humans run things. They think old age means wisdom and let the old folks run things even when they're not able.

M: Who are you calling old? The Eldest is not old. The Highest is beyond time. And we have been here a VERY long while.

H: Yes, but we're immortal. We don't degenerate up there. We don't get fixed-pattern syndrome. And we're not human, my love.

M: Well, Adam got to over 900 before we had to reboot him. But I see what you mean; the situation these days is a lot different. I think they forget to learn while being educated.

Ravens 018

when did it happen
the world is changed

that the leading light
that the compass point

turned from leaving to arrival
turned to hopeful from despairing

our battered lives comparing
are thinking of survival

what used to disappoint
what now is looking bright

the world is changed
we need new mapping

Surprise

Huginn: Aaaahh! The light! It hurts!

Muninn: That light has not been seen since Event One.

H: What has he done?

M: I suspect an egg has hatched.

H: Hatched into what?

M: Whatever it is, it must be a really big bird.

Reprise

Huginn: I thought flesh and blood could never bear such a burden, being cells and suchlike.

Muninn: I remember that creation has borne such a burden since we left the Garden.

H: Yes, but one man? That seems like a dangerous option. All your eggs, you know.

M: What would you know about eggs?

H: (embarrassed) Well, eggs. Round, hard.

M: The harder the egg, the bigger the bird. Remember Ostrich?

Ravens 017

here is darkness without light
here is famine born in blight
here is death and here a slave
here is hope entombed in grave

everything is finished now
and the actors take a bow
yet the seasoned and the wise
hope for encore and reprise

is that all we hope to see
is that all that's yet to be
here is victory in disguise
what a terrible surprise

To Be

Huginn: It seems as if we have been a long time here. Doesn't he remember us?

Muninn: How can he forget? He doesn't even forget the little and nearly useless ones.

H: Well, we do a lot more than sparrows do, but they are everywhere, eating everything.

M: As I recall, he just gives them food, but he is a little more direct with us.

H: There are days when I cannot work out his purpose at all.

M: I think it is enough just to be, and assume the purpose.

To Do

Huginn: The thought is father to the deed. But what was done?

Muninn: I remember nothing. Therefore nothing was done.

H: But something was done. The Wanderer wanders again.

M: Nothing is done that escapes my eyes and the intensity of my recording.

H: Then maybe, it is not so much what was done, but who did it.

M: And maybe, it is not so much who did it, but who it was done to.