[KingTeholBeddict]

Ok, so I'm doing my first reread of the series, and I am almost finished with MoI, and this time I'm actually paying attention to the poems or such in the beginning of the chapters. Well, I was reading at the train station this afternoon, and I had to put down the book because I found this poem.

Quote

Memories of Ice UK Bantam, pg. 627

The First Child of the Dead Seed
dreams of a father's dying breath
and hears in eternal refrain
the screams trapped in his lungs --
Dare you step behind his eyes
even for a moment?

The First Child of the Dead Seed
leads an army of sorrow
down hunger's bone-picked road
where a mother dances and sings --
Dare you walk in his steps
and dearly hold her hand?

The First Child of the Dead Seed
is sheathed in the clutter of failed armour
defending him from the moment of birth
through years of dire schooling --
Do not dare judge him hard
lest you wear his skin.

Silba of the Shattered Heart
K'alass

I don't know why, but this poem really hit me, and I had to put down the book, and haven't been able to read it since...

Now I was wondering if any of you have experienced something similar, and also, what your favorite poem of Erikson's is.

[Defiance]

On my reread of the series I've been reading each poem twice and sometimes a third time after I finish a chapter. I can't claim that I understand them all, but there have been some that have really made me think.

My favorite poem, well, this one isn't really a poem but:

When Apsalar and Crokus are on top of K'rul's Belfry and she tells him about Grallin's gardens. There's something so beautifully pure about this scene, so profound...I dunno, I just love it.

"Its oceans. Grallin's Sea. That's the big one. The Lord of the Deep Waters living there is Grallin. He tends vast, beautiful underwater gardens. Grallin will come down to us, one day, to our world. And he'll gather his chosen and take them to his world. And we'll live in those gardens, warmed by the deep fires, and our children will swim like dolphins, and we'll be happy since there won't be anymore wars, and no empires, and no swords and shields."

This post has been edited by Defiance: 15 September 2010 - 05:43 PM

[Abberon]

I'm skipping the poems even on my re-read. I check them out occasionally between chapters but I never really run into any that have any impact on me.

[Gatekeeper]

I like ICE poems/quotes better. Wirh a few exceptions. Like, Cots saying in an SE novel "the fiercer the world, the fiercer the honor" I'm in the camp that line "Always an Even Exchange" is an anchor in the series, and has few rivals.

[Use Of Weapons]

My favourite SE poems were the ones quoted by <argh! old Tiste Andii mage in TTH, am blanking on the name>, the short-lived school of brevity -- one -line poems that really packed a punch. Kinda like haiku (and I wonder if they were the inspiration).