A Fremen Comes of Age

Dawn ignites a silvery sky,
Chasing shadows from the rock;
Sentry stirs with watchful eye
High above the overlook.

Hearths awaken, hid from sight,
Shapes resolve from cleft and cave;
Gazes wary, footfalls light,
Hearts are hardened, faces grave.

Grim sets forth the desert band
To the designated place;
Martial columns cross the sand
Absent any rhythmic pace.

Solemn stands the gathered throng,
Called to rite by ancient ways;
Swelling voices lift in song
On this fateful day of days.

Mind afire, fear aborning,
Youth unseasoned stands apart;
Gauntlet's moment fast approaching
Sharpens thought and steels the heart.

Drumming summons beat the sand,
Drawing up the Old Man's wrath;
Hook in fledgling's ready hand
Stays the Maker from his path.

Up and over, worm astride,
Mountain mounted, spirits soar;
Ululations trill with pride--
Rider is a youth no more.

Duncan Idaho

Idaho, that worthy name
from back and fore in time,
shone brightest during Leto's reign,
the hero in his prime.

Round of face and dark of eye,
with curling black goat hair,
a rogue with smile exceeding wry
and gifted with the fair.

Disciple of the Ginaz school,
with sword unparalleled,
victorious in every duel,
all honor and pride upheld.

In life a hard and ruthless man,
though moral to a fault;
In death his fame the ages span
for deeds the bards exalt.

Road to Jihad

On a burning desert world two families contend,
So grave the outcome's consequence that all eyes do attend;
Corrino and Atreides battle for supremacy,
At stake, the spice, the Imperium's great commodity.

The hardy desert Fremen fight for their adopted lord,
The young Duke Paul Atreides whom the naibs did accord
A savior's mantle and the blessed title of Mahdi,
The legend come to life to challenge imperial sovereignty.

The Sardaukar, Corrino's fearsome janissary guard,
Looked on their foe with great disdain and miniscule regard;
Scornful of the prowess that the desert men possessed,
They charged against the Fremen at their emperor's behest.

So frenzied fought the Fremen for their messianic dream,
They crushed the outworld infidels and proved themselves supreme.
By end of day, beyond the sundered walls of Arrakeen,
Corrino soldiers stained the desert sands incarnadine.

The Fremen host, triumphant, stood before the palace grand,
Their solemn banners flying green and black across the land;
The herald cried: Shaddam Corrino has been overthrown
And Paul Muad'dib, Atreides Duke, sits firmly on the throne!

But all across the Landsraad worlds dissenting voices cried,
For other noble houses, grown with overweening pride,
Laid claim upon the Golden Throne and took defiant stand
Against the upstart Duke, blind to the strength at his command.

On hearing of this blasphemy that nobles from afar
Denied their Mahdi's righteous reign, the Fremen roused for war;
Muad'dib, in counsel, ruminated in prophetic trance
And visions of jihad, before his sight, began to dance.

Once more across the starry void the green and black unfurled;
Aboard the vessels of the Guild they strode from world to world
Infuriated by the signs of wanton heresy,
The Death Commandos grim resolved to cleanse the galaxy.

For twelve long years the flames of war engulf the universe
While billions of the dead decry the fey Atreides curse,
Till long at last submission comes, his enemies relent;
In silent peace, now Emperor, Paul pauses to lament.

The Tyrant's Plight

I stand in the shade
a sunlit path before me
paved with countless lives

divine emperor
ruler of a million worlds
worshipped but unloved

bearing the burden
of countless generations
demanding audience

thirty centuries
encased in flesh not my own
longing for release

yet I must endure
for a lesson must be learned
and not soon forgot

Ode to a Slig

Some enjoy beef, some lamb, some pig
Yet no sweeter meat do I know than slig
Describedly foul and much worse on sight
This true epicurean's delight

The grossest amalgam of pig and slug
It turns away many, but I merely shrug
And watch those around me, their faces aghast
As I sit and enjoy my chimeric repast

The Ampoliros

Across the dark and endless deeps of space,
Tossed upon the waves of time she sails adrift,
Her ageless crew's eternal spark no gift
But wretched curse in that forsaken place.
Within her wasted hull the engines thrum,
A woeful drone to those entombed souls
That ghostly roam betwixt its shadowed halls
Who, living thus, to madness must succumb.
Once bright, their vacant eyes now wand'ring seek
A guiding star to that elusive shore
Where death brings peace that they shall never more
Endure the agony of hope and life turned bleak.
So pass the days of torment and despair
Of they that draw the Ampoliros through the empty air.

Arrakis

What dusty world is this, devoid of green
And seared beneath God's limpid burning stare?
Awash in heat, a hell without compare,
From heaven's view a jewel so pristine
No rain has e'er touched its arid face;
A desolation bleak and full of misery
Whose dunes drown men as surely as the sea,
Abode of worms, a land bereft of grace.

Leto's Lament

Of faces that I love
and places dear to me,
these memories I have
are all that I can see.

Bleeding and broken lies my house,
its pillars felled to ground,
undone by one so treacherous
his lies were never found.

The valiant sons of Caladan,
how bravely did they fight!
But all was lost, and one by one
they scattered into the night.

Now ne'er more shall I behold
the peaks of Syubi,
the sunlit seas and fields of gold
no longer shall I see.

Bright seabirds cawing in the air,
waves breaking on the shore,
anon these I shall never hear
or witness ever more.

Yet hope remains, or so I pray,
a bargain for my son and wife,
their lives for which I dearly pay
the water of my own life.

Now faces are withdrawn,
the places out of sight,
my memories are gone
for now my soul takes flight.

The Battle of Arrakeen

Unruly sun
beats down upon
the city of Arrakeen,
where in his lair,
a steel affair,
the lion lays unseen.
Above the rise,
keen desert eyes
appraise the hapless foe
and lie in wait
for winds of fate
when storm begins to blow.
A blast of fire,
like heaven's ire,
tears down the Shielding Wall,
and hellish forms
of giant worms
hold the enemy in thrall.
Muad'dib! The cry
goes up and I
give sign to all the men;
across the bled
we forge ahead
into the lion's den.
The hostile throng,
five legions strong,
arrayed in gilded tent;
once mighty host,
their lives now lost,
on Dune their water spent.

Yueh

Physician to nobility,
a conscientious man of Suk,
though Judas he did come to be
and all for naught his oath forsook.

That jeweled sign upon his brow,
of loyalty and trust did lie,
and did the Baron well endow
with means to doom the hawk to die.

Gurney Man

Noble champion of Atreides,
Leader of men, wooer of ladies,
Servant of Leto, mentor to Paul,
Bane of Harkonnen, one and all.
Birthed in the fires of Geidi Prime,
Lethal with blade, deadly with rhyme;
Versed in war and uplifting song,
Forth into battle he carries along
His shield, his knife, his baliset
And hon'rable courage that none forget.
Warrior, poet, unwavering friend,
Valiant and faithful 'til the end.

Old Man of the Desert

God and worm in one
leviathan he is called
Shai-Hulud his name

there are none like him
in all the known universe
both feared and worshipped

his rings are his pride
the water of life his gift
he cleanses the world

from beneath the sands
he rises like the mountains
devouring all

rivers of dust flow
in the wake of his passing
his cry fills the air

Coriolis winds
weathering rock, stripping flesh
echo his laughter

guardian of secrets
underneath cinammon sands
wealth beyond measure

giver and taker
father, old man, the Maker
worm and God in one

Preamble

Welcome to my poetry blog! As the title says, here is where I've decided to compile my small but growing collection of poems related to Frank Herbert's literary masterpiece. If you don't yet know what Dune is, click here.