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THE TALES OF AYELSFARN (An Aethereal Menagerie)
(Second Edition)
Copyright 1991 by Robert Bryan Reinhardt
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Includes all original and revised poetry and prose
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The Tales of Ayelsfarn; An Aetherial Managerie I (1985)
The Tales of Ayelsfarn; An Aetherial Managerie II (1991)
Copyright 1985, 1991 by Robert Bryan Reinhardt
ISBN 0-8059-2988-6
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c2. The Elder Ayelsfarn
From a land beyond the starwinds west an elder wizard lives.
From above the shaky earthen mass upon an opaque cloth he lives.
The archmage of all wizards now and past, Ayelsfarn is his nomen.
A master of the arcane arts, alas, his heart born of good omen.
Ayelsfarn, in his day, was the guardian
Of all seafarers near and afar.
It has been said that in times of dire stress
The good mage from upon his perch (he sat)
Would 'lieve poor sailors their duress.
"He would bend the wind our way," some did say.
"Aylesfarn is the personification of mortal good."
His castle of ivory and platinum rests majestically above,
Far from the reach of any man, save even a dove.
Of course it is in magick that this place transpires
With ivory pillars and platinum spires,
Laced with gilt silver statuettes.
Ayelsfarn the Elder, as he is often called
Was born and yet remains that of mortal form.
He came from a lowly wooded den
From among a clan of elves.
His mother with great power o'er the storm
And his father a barbarian born.
Today, swimming through the sands of time,
With uncertain rhythm, poetry, prose, and rhyme,
Travels the hapless wanderer;
Full of emptiness, yearning to go even farther.
Ever searching for the answers to man's
Endless mysteries, many yet still unsought.
Whilst haplessly abounding with spirit-traffic all around him
The fleeing absence of sound caught this thought:
"Borrowed time upon my soul,
That which I need to reach my goal.
Searching, searching everywhere,
The limits of time are mind to unfold.
Yet after sifting and sorting all this sand
I find myself still in search
Of the answers to the questions
Found deep inside the mysteries
Many great men have sought
Throughout all man's histories."
Upon a crystal cloud
Unable to find any ground
His troubles seem to fervently compound . . .
And this is the mysterious Journal of Tales that he found.
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