Stephen Baxter
Weaver
AD 1492
'As mapped by myself; in which the long warp threads are the history of the whole world; and the wefts which run from selvedge to selvedge are distortions of that history, deflected by a Weaver unknown; be he human, divine or satanic…'
The Prophecy of Nectovelin 4BC
(Free translation from Latin, with acrostic preserved.)
Ah child! Bound in time's tapestry, and yet you are born free
Come, let me sing to you of what there is and what will be,
Of all men and all gods, and of the mighty emperors three.
Named with a German name, a man will come with eyes of glass
Straddling horses large as houses bearing teeth like scimitars.
The trembling skies declare that Rome's great son has come to earth
A little Greek his name will be. Whilst God-as-babe has birth
Roman force will ram the island's neck into a noose of stone.
Emerging first in Brigantia, exalted later then in Rome!
Prostrate before a slavish god, at last he is revealed divine,
Embrace imperial will make dead marble of the Church's shrine.
Remember this: We hold these truths self-evident to be -
I say to you that all men are created equal, free
Rights inalienable assured by the Maker's attribute
Endowed with Life and Liberty and Happiness' pursuit.
O child! thou tapestried in time, strike home! Strike at the root!
The Menologium of the Blessed Isolde
AD 418
(Free translation from Old English, with acrostic preserved.)
Prologue
These the Great Years
Whose awe and beauty
Light step by step
An Aryan realm
I
The Comet comes
Each man of gold
In life a great king
Nine-hundred and fifty-one
II
The Comet comes
Number months thirty-five
See the Bear laid low
Nine-hundred and eighteen
III
The Comet comes
The blood of the holy one
Empire dreams pour
Nine-hundred and thirty-one
IV
The Comet comes
In homage a king bows
Not an island, an island
Nine-hundred and seven
of the Comet of God
in the roof of the world
the road to empire
the glory of Christ
in the month of June.
spurns loyalty of silver.
in death a small man.
the months of the first Year.
in the month of September.
of this Year of war.
by the Wolf of the north.
the months of the second Year.
in the month of March.
thins and dries.
into golden heads.
the months of the third Year.
