Going back to the original post in this thread I actually think in re-reading it that the poem also refers to Bottle and his first meeting with the Eres'al. I have typed the whole passage below that I have been referencing from the Bonehunters because there seem to be lots of links between the poem Icarium hears and this passage.
Basically this takes place just before the command meeting and battle of Y-Gatan, also just after Bottle has sent his "lizards" into the hut to spy on said meeting - it's the first time the Eres'al appears to Bottle:
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He met her eyes and was shaken to his very core. This was no mindless creature.
Eres'al. The yearning in those dark, stunningly beautiful eyes made him mentally reel.
'All right' he whispered, and slowly sent his senses questing into that womb, into the spirit growing within it.
For every abomination, there must emerge it's answer. It's enemy, it's counter balance. Here within this Eres'al is such an answer. To a distant abomination, the corruption of a once-innocent spirit. Innocence must be reborn. Yet.. I can see so little... not human, not even of this world, barring what the Eres'al herself brought to the union. Thus, an intruder. From another realm. a realm bereft of innocence. To make them part of this world, one of their kind must be born... in this way. their blood must be drawn into this worlds flow of blood.
But why an Eres'al?
Because... god's below.. because she is the last innocent creature, the last innocent ancestor of our line. After her... the degredation of spirit begins. The shifting of perspective, the seperation from all else, the carving of borders - in the ground, in the minds way of seeing. After her, there is only ...us..
The realization - the recognition - was devastating. Bottle pulled his hand away. But it was too late. He knew too many things now. The Father... Tiste Edur. the child to come... the only pure candidate for a new Throne of Shadow - a throne commanding a healed realm.
And it would have so many enemies. So many....
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Is ther also a ppossibility the boy talked about in the poem is Bottle and not Grub? We know that the Eres'al first started "kissing" Bottle right before the battle at Y-Gatan - of course Y-Gatan also would explain the references to "Fire" and "smoke". I also think the "lizards" part refers to Bottle's Lizards that he had spying on everyone before he started using the rats after the Inferno at Y-Gatan (forgot he used the lizards first to spy on the command meetings). And lastly "Fathers" as in Trull being the father of the child in the Eres'als womb.
This post has been edited by waylander001: 03 September 2010 - 04:39 PM
There were clouds closed fast round the moon. And one by one, gardens died .....