| Title: | Arcana Caelestia |
| Notice: | Directory listings are in topic 2 |
| Moderator: | NETRIX::thomas |
| Created: | Thu Dec 08 1983 |
| Last Modified: | Thu Jun 05 1997 |
| Last Successful Update: | Fri Jun 06 1997 |
| Number of topics: | 1300 |
| Total number of notes: | 18728 |
[from THE BEST FROM FANTASY AND SCIENCE FICTION 15th
SERIES (Ace Books), edited by Edward L. Ferman.
Copyright (C) 1964,1965,1966 by Mercury Press]
TREAT
by Walter H. Kerr
There was one day a year we could relax
and be our plastic selves, one day or, rather,
night, when we could let go, dismiss the bother
of daily fossil faking, the rigid hoax
of identity which rodded our aching backs
and turned our ego covering to leather,
one day in all the year to loose the tether
and frolic in the meadow of their tricks.
What lettings go we had, what meltings of
tension, what suspenseful waitings for the
gatherings and the soft shrieking of dusk.
And yet, despite the season's grotesque love,
the little monsters may have wondered why
we answered the bell in what they thought were masks.
| T.R | Title | User | Personal Name | Date | Lines |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 276.1 | TROLL::RUDMAN | Fri Oct 25 1985 19:30 | 14 | ||
Had the opportunity to share this timely poem with y'all.
If this violates any copywrite laws or the intent of this Notesfile I
will delete it. (Likewise with 224.12--see 224.7 to .11 first--which
I will also delete.)
If this is deemed acceptable, I have Fredric Brown's "Answer" (referenced
as "inspirational" in Isaac Asimov's Semicon East speech entitled "AI vs.
IA".) tucked away in a VMS file.
In any case, copies are available upon request; hands-across-the-sea and
all that.)
Don
| |||||
| 276.2 | PEN::KALLIS | Wed Oct 30 1985 10:06 | 28 | ||
The night of the year when shadows speak and leaf-rustle takes on a special meaning. The grinning faces glowing orange-red from inter- nal flames bob merrily, their grins masking a deeper purpose. Shapes glide noiselessly in the dark postdusk sky, where the moon may ride like a silvery eye, somehow keenly aware of what may lurk in dark corners. At some spots, though, figures dance naked around a blazing fire, turning widdershins and chanting strange words in obscore but stirring rhythyms. Things bend to hear, and what listens lurks just beyond the threshold of what seems right and proper. Yet who's to say, on this night, what is proper, and where right ends? The dark, the hills, stones gleaming in the orange of distant fires and the silver of the more distant moon. Does something stir within a circle? Or is something outside trying to get within one? The costumed children will be safely abed when the serious work begins. And the lanterns will be ex- tinguished, the darkness making their grins disappear. The night continues until the break of dawn. Steve Kallis, Jr. (c) 1985 | |||||
| 276.3 | TROLL::RUDMAN | Wed Nov 06 1985 12:55 | 7 | ||
Thank you, Mr. Kallis.
Responses such as this help add an aura of respectability to this Notesfile.
Thanks again.
Don
| |||||
| 276.4 | EVER11::EKLOF | Wed Nov 06 1985 14:48 | 7 | ||
Re: .2 Not sure how I missed that before, but I, too would like to offer my thanks for sharing that with us. Mark | |||||
| 276.5 | PEN::KALLIS | Tue Nov 12 1985 09:16 | 6 | ||
re .3, .4: Thanks for the kind remarks. Since Hallowe'en is my favorite holiday, I thought I'd have to do _something_ appropriate. Steve Kallis, Jr. | |||||