From The Jackals To The Shepherds 33: Ten of Clubs

From The Jackals To The Shepherds

The poet this week is Elizabeth Barrett Browning: https://www.poets.org/poetsorg/poet/elizabeth-barrett-browning

Make your calls to make the world a better place: https://5calls.org/

Stance: http://takeastance.us/

The Woods:

The Map:

Dave – Taylor

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Battlebards Tracks used:

Elven Dirge – Farewell – Score Music – Philippe Payet

Transcription:

For a long time, we were at war with The Jackals. But now, we’ve driven them off, and we have this – a year of relative peace. In this moment, there is an opportunity to build something.

A week has passed.

Following the devastating snow, we cry “O Dreary life!” and yet the generations of the birds sing through our sighing, and the flocks and herds serenely live while we are keeping strife with Heaven’s true purpose in us, as a knife against which we may struggle. River girds unslackened the dry land: savannah-swards unweary sweep: hills watch, unworn; and rife meek leaves drop yearly from the forest-trees, to show, above, the unwasted stars that pass in their old glory. O thou Gods of old! Grant us some smaller grace than comes to these;— but so much patience, as a blade of grass grows by contented through the heat and cold.

Patience brings us to harvest as autumn comes to a close. Those crops not pulled before the frost are pulled now and we work from before the sun rises until well after it hides behind the crags of the mountains overhead.

We are too ready with complaint in this fair world of God’s. Had we no hope indeed beyond the zenith and the slope of yon gray blank of sky, we might be faint to muse upon eternity’s constraint round our aspirant souls. But since the scope must widen early, is it well to droop, for a few days consumed in loss and taint? O pusillanimous Heart, be comforted,— and, like a cheerful traveller, take the road— singing beside the hedge. What if the bread be bitter in thine inn, and thou unshod to meet the flints?—At least it may be said, “Because the way is short, I thank thee, Gods!”

Drach works with the bandit leader and her crew to divide harvest responsibilities, and while he works, he is met by one of their pets, a young sheepdog. It was but yesterday he mused, forgetful of his presence here, till thought on thought drew downward tear on tear; when from the pillow, where wet-cheeked he lay, a head as hairy as Faunus, thrust its way right sudden against his face,—two golden-clear large eyes astonished his,—a drooping ear did flap him on either cheek, to dry the spray! He started first, as some Arcadian amazed by goatly god in twilight grove: but as his bearded vision closelier ran his tears off, he knew Flush, and rose above surprise and sadness; thanking the true Pan, who, by low creatures, leads to heights of love.

The original planters of the field, Eileen and Llyana watch proudly as the entire community gathers to harvest, coming together in harmonious work. The face of all the world is changed, I think, since first we heard the footsteps of forest soul move still, oh, still, beside us, as they stole betwixt us and the dreadful outer brink of obvious death, where Eileen, who thought to sink, was caught up into love, and taught the whole of life in a new rhythm. The cup of toil and working fields, she is fain to drink, and praise its sweetness, sweet, with Llyana anear. The names of country, heaven, are changed away for where ze are or shall be, there or here; and this… With Eileen’s lute and song… loved yesterday, (the singing angels know) are only dear, because her love’s name moves right in what she sings today.

With stammering lips and insufficient sound she strives and struggles to deliver right that music of our nature, day and night with dream and thought and feeling interwound and only answering all the senses round with octaves of a mystic depth and height which step out grandly to the infinite from the dark edges of the sensual ground. This song of soul she struggles to outbear through portals of the sense, sublime and whole, and utter all herself into the air: but if she did it,—as the thunder-roll breaks its own cloud, her flesh would perish there, before that dread apocalypse of soul.

After the harvest we still barely have enough food for the community, and who knows what winter will bring. But we do know that we have a new abundance: love and companionship. As those toiling return to their homes few return alone, and those who do, do so by choice. As we dry the frosted fruits of our labor, ripe heat warms both our harvests and our beds.

We discover something new while we work, for as we pull up semi frozen roots and break through the top layer of frost in our fields, the underlying layers of clay and loam still radiate warmth upwards to the surface. Strangely, only a foot or so down, it is as if the seasons have no effect at all on the state of the earth. We shrug and put this knowledge in the back of our minds for now.

And a week passes.

Thank you for joining us for the thirty third episode of From The Jackals To The Shepherds. If you like this show please give us a rating on iTunes, tell a friend, or share us on social media. As always the intro for the show was read by Dave Lapru, who is also our mapkeeper. You can find Dave on twitter at plantbird, and I’m at leviathan files. This week’s poet is Elizabeth Barret Browning. Please consider visiting our website at Riverhouse Games dot com, or supporting this show and other Riverhouse Games work on Patreon at patreon dot com slash Riverhouse Games. Music for this episode was provided by Battlebards dot com.

Listeners, I have a favor to ask of you. In these times there’s a lot that scares me in the world, but we have to stand up as a people and make our voices heard. I ask that you make a few phone calls to your representatives about issues that matter to you. I’ve been using a great website at 5 Calls dot org which provides critical issues, background information, contact info, and even scripts to read while on the phone. Thankfully my representative’s offices have been polite and personable when I call, but if you’re worried about it, or if you experience phone anxiety, there’s an app you can download called Stance, which allows you to pre-record your statement, which it will then deliver straight to the representative’s voicemail. Today I’m calling to urge my representatives to OPPOSE ANTI-LGBTQ JEFF MATEER FOR FEDERAL JUDGESHIP

Donald Trump has nominated Texas Assistant Attorney General Jeff Mateer for a lifetime judgeship on the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Despite being a constitutional lawyer, Mateer has repeatedly insisted that the separation of church and state should not exist. He has worked for the First Liberty Institute, a conservative legal defense foundation that often pursues cases involving disputes over religious liberties. He has compared the treatment of Christians in America to that of Jewish people in Nazi Germany, calling the Obama administration “totalitarian”. He also has a history of hostility towards the LGBTQ+ community. In 2015, he described transgender children as part of “Satan’s plan” and has likened same-sex marriage and polyamory to people “marrying their pets”. Mateer is also an active proponent of conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ individuals, despite extensive evidence that this “therapy” is ineffective at best and dangerous at worst.

Trump’s nomination of Mateer to a lifetime judgeship is an attack on both the separation of church and state and on LGBTQ+ individuals who remain vulnerable to abuse and discrimination. Mateer is an anti-civil rights, anti-First Amendment judge who has admitted outright to discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation. Trump has already withdrawn a directive allowing transgender students to use the bathrooms of their choice, and banned transgender military recruits. Appointing Mateer to this judgeship would further undermine the rights and protections that LGBTQ+ people and their allies have fought for years to secure.

Please make your calls to help make our world a better place. Thank you, I love you, and I’m proud of you in advance.

And until next week, I hope your week goes well.

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