POEMS (or other sundry quotes) that remind you of ASOIAF

[LmL]

Nenny-Where I Roam, by Metallica (and LmL)

...and the road tree becomes my bride
I have stripped of all but pride
So in her I do confide
And she keeps me satisfied
Gives me all I need silver see-weed

...and with (cave) dust in throat I crave
Only knowledge will I save
To the game (of thrones) you stay a slave

Rover Stranger, red wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time anywhere
Free to speak my mind peeping tom anywhere
And I'll redefine wise red leaves anywhere

Anywhere I roam NENNY-WHERE I MOAN

Where I lay my head is home

...and the earth becomes my throne ( ! )
I adapt to the unknown
Under wandering stars I've grown ( ! )
By myself but not alone
I ask no one

...and my ties are severed clean
The less I have the more I gain
Off the beaten path I reign

Rover Stranger, red wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time eat starfish soup anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind weave see-weed gowns anywhere
And I'll never mind NENNY MOAN anywhere

Anywhere I roam NENNY-WHERE I MOAN
Where I lay my head is home

Carved upon my stone
My body lie but still I roam

YEAH YE-AHH, WAN-DAH, WANDAH, OOO-OOOH OH!!  weedly weedly wahhhhh ok you get the idea

    JUST TRY AND HEAR THIS SONG NORMALLY EVER AGAIN, MUAH HA HA HA   

[ravenous reader]

24 minutes ago, LmL said:

Nenny-Where I Roam, by Metallica (and LmL)

...and the road tree becomes my bride
I have stripped of all but pride
So in her I do confide
And she keeps me satisfied
Gives me all I need silver see-weed

...and with (cave) dust in throat I crave
Only knowledge will I save
To the game (of thrones) you stay a slave

Rover Stranger, red wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time anywhere
Free to speak my mind peeping tom anywhere
And I'll redefine wise red leaves anywhere

Anywhere I roam NENNY-WHERE I MOAN

Where I lay my head is home

...and the earth becomes my throne ( ! )
I adapt to the unknown
Under wandering stars I've grown ( ! )
By myself but not alone
I ask no one

...and my ties are severed clean
The less I have the more I gain
Off the beaten path I reign

Rover Stranger, red wanderer
Nomad, vagabond
Call me what you will

But I'll take my time eat starfish soup anywhere
I'm free to speak my mind weave see-weed gowns anywhere
And I'll never mind NENNY MOAN anywhere

Anywhere I roam NENNY-WHERE I MOAN
Where I lay my head is home

Carved upon my stone
My body lie but still I roam

YEAH YE-AHH, WAN-DAH, WANDAH, OOO-OOOH OH!!  weedly weedly wahhhhh ok you get the idea

    JUST TRY AND HEAR THIS SONG NORMALLY EVER AGAIN, MUAH HA HA HA   

Bloody brilliant.  Touché.

'To the game of thrones you stay a slave...' ain't that the uncomfortable truth!

The original for those of you who are still interested in those staid, old-fashioned lyrics:

[Pain killer Jane]

Per the discussion on the The Amber Compendium thread about roses, blood, sacrifice and pain/bread pun. I thought of the slogan Bread and Roses often used during Unionizing.

Here is

Bread and Roses 

By James Oppenheim

As we come marching, marching, in the beauty of the day, 
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill-lofts gray 
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses, 
For the people hear us singing, "Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses." 

As we come marching, marching, we battle, too, for men -- 
For they are women's children, and we mother them again. 
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes -- 
Hearts starve as well as bodies: Give us Bread, but give us Roses. 

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead 
Go crying through our singing their ancient song of Bread; 
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew -- 
Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for Roses, too. 

As we come marching, marching, we bring the Greater Days -- 
The rising of the women means the rising of the race -- 
No more the drudge and idler -- ten that toil where one reposes -- 
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses. 

 

This was also a song by John Denver.

 

Which reminds me of Sansa's singing the Mother's Hymn during the Battle of the Blackwater and to Sandor

Quote

Gentle Mother, font of mercy, 
save our sons from war, we pray, 
stay the swords and stay the arrows, 
let them know a better day.

Gentle Mother, strength of women, 
help our daughters through this fray, 
soothe the wrath and tame the fury, 
teach us all a kinder way.

 

[LmL]

14 minutes ago, Cowboy Dan said:

THE FLOOD GATES! *Wrings hands deviously* 

On the Pink Floyd front (I don't really know Grateful Dead -- it just got brought up because of that hilarious thread) I'll just point you to the animated music video for "Welcome to the Machine" (there's some graphic imagery so I'll just point to the important time stamps, explaining the imagery and won't be posting it directly due to forum policy) because there's some interesting stuff there I think @LmL will quite enjoy too (I'll stop tagging you in like every 3rd comment I make, I swear).

So at ~2:55 there's a quick cut of a decaying body with rats that start running away. The body could be seen as Bloodraven or the warlocks while the (grey?) rats make me think of Dany's travels on the sea and how the rats all flee the ship, a new event for the sailors. 

Then the really fun stuff starts around 4:45 as we get the image of three reflective white slabs of stone. One is square, another trapezoidal (I think that's the right description) facing each other and the third is a round tower. Once the camera stops a sea of blood comes over the horizon and upon touching the stones begins to turn black too. Waves of "night and blood", which as the camera pans, turn into hands reaching for the sky, a familiar piece of imagery. They are all trying to get to yet another (fourth) stone that is white with a black shadow. The stone then starts ascending into the sky, past the clouds and enters a floating moon-thing emblazoned with a horned shadow that has what looks like a curved blade sticking out of it. On the opposite side is a single dot, like a black eye.

That's all I got, I didn't want to analyze the whole thing, just explain the relevant imagery in case anyone doesn't want to watch it themselves.

 

Leaving that behind a fun bit of color symbolism I've picked up is pink and blue with gold in the middle. Pink for dawn, blue for dusk, and gold as the sun in the sky. With that I'll post The Mountain Goats song "Pink and Blue"

The first verse and chorus make me think of a lot of familiar imagery. The chorus in particular makes me think how Ned must have felt after ToJ. The second verse though? I'm not talented enough to swing that one.

Unfortunately, the sunset is never described as blue in A Song of Ice and Fire, but almost always red or purple.

The video sounds crazy though, I'll have to check it out.

[Durran Durrandon]

This will seem out of felt field for most people, but P.D. Eastman's Snow always make me think of ASOIAF. It's the bit about the smowman named Ned. Also, Are You My Mother always makes me think of Thoros and Beric.

[hiemal]

Just to get the obvious out of the way:

Fire and Ice

Robert Frost

Some say the world will end in fire,

Some say in ice.

From what I’ve tasted of desire

I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,

I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice

Is also great

And would suffice.

[hiemal]

1 minute ago, Durran Durrandon said:

This will seem out of felt field for most people, but P.D. Eastman's Snow always make me think of ASOIAF. It's the bit about the smowman named Ned. Also, Are You My Mother always makes me think of Thoros and Beric.

I almost peed.

[LmL]

15 minutes ago, Cowboy Dan said:

You are technically correct but I never said sunset, I said dusk!

But yes red and purple are likewise equated with the setting sun along with a few other specific shades we don't need to get into here.

I could go on but I think you get the point. Color symbolism is a bit of a passion of mine so I had to fight you on this one, friend.  

And yes, said video is indeed crazy.

Ah but can you go on? You found two blue dusks- are there more?

Like I said, sunset is remarkably consistent with being associated with red, purple, and blood 

[Durran Durrandon]

6 minutes ago, hiemal said:

I almost peed.

Then my work here is done.

[LmL]

@Cowboy Dan ok that's really interesting. I wonder why sunset is usually red but dusk air is blue? I mean, I guess that's just how things actually look right? Maybe there is no particular symbolism there. 

I mostly get excited when there are bloody sunsets or blood bruise skies in proximity to other Lightbringer symbols. That's main thing to me, actually, is the given description of a sunrise or sunset within the context of the scene. 

Inside the context of my theory about there being two magic swords - a black one that burned red belonging to AA and a white one (Dawn) which burns... probably lyrics white or silvery blue, white fire, pale flame, something along those lines. I tend to associate the white sword with sunrise, Dawn  (duh), and the black sword with sunset, because the black sword and it's wielder seem to have been responsible for bringing the Long Night (setting the sun / killing the sun). Of course with all the inversions in the story, I can't be too set on things like that. It could be the opposite, or it could be that one sword was split into or two swords combined - you get the idea. There are related scenarios. But the point is, I do think we had a sword of Dawn and a sword of Nightfall ( which is the name of a Valyrian steel sword of course). 

[hiemal]

Sticking with the apocalyptic theme:

The Second Coming

By William Butler Yeats

 

Turning and turning in the widening gyre   

The falcon cannot hear the falconer;

Things fall apart; the centre cannot hold;

Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,

The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere   

The ceremony of innocence is drowned;

The best lack all conviction, while the worst   

Are full of passionate intensity.

 

Surely some revelation is at hand;

Surely the Second Coming is at hand.   

The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out   

When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi

Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert   

A shape with lion body and the head of a man,   

A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,   

Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it   

Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.   

The darkness drops again; but now I know   

That twenty centuries of stony sleep

Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,   

And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,   

Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?

 

Replace Bethleham with the Dothraki Sea, perhaps? Aside from that, pretty good fit.

[ravenous reader]

9 hours ago, Pain killer Jane said:

Per the discussion on the The Amber Compendium thread about roses, blood, sacrifice and pain/bread pun. I thought of the slogan Bread and Roses often used during Unionizing.

Here is

Bread and Roses 

By James Oppenheim

As we come marching, marching, in the beauty of the day, 
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill-lofts gray 
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses, 
For the people hear us singing, "Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses." 

As we come marching, marching, we battle, too, for men -- 
For they are women's children, and we mother them again. 
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes -- 
Hearts starve as well as bodies: Give us Bread, but give us Roses. 

As we come marching, marching, unnumbered women dead 
Go crying through our singing their ancient song of Bread; 
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew -- 
Yes, it is bread we fight for -- but we fight for Roses, too. 

As we come marching, marching, we bring the Greater Days -- 
The rising of the women means the rising of the race -- 
No more the drudge and idler -- ten that toil where one reposes -- 
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and Roses, Bread and Roses. 

 

This was also a song by John Denver.

 

Which reminds me of Sansa's singing the Mother's Hymn during the Battle of the Blackwater and to Sandor

Quote

Gentle Mother, font of mercy, 
save our sons from war, we pray, 
stay the swords and stay the arrows, 
let them know a better day.

Gentle Mother, strength of women, 
help our daughters through this fray, 
soothe the wrath and tame the fury, 
teach us all a kinder way.

Thanks PK; I really enjoyed that and your insights, as always!  That song also reminds me of the 'Brotherhood without Banners' who espouse many union and indeed socialist principles, and are an obvious reworking of Robin Hood and his merry band -- the idea of an outlaw 'band' additionally being a wordplay on musical 'band', which is particularly apt considering that in both cases they are frequently given to breaking out in song, particularly when they are on the march to do battle somewhere!

Band members who are musicians such as Tom Sevenstrings, the harpist, occupy important roles in the collective, often using their musical instruments as weapons -- a demonstration of the 'bread and roses' concept whereby pragmatism and aesthetics hold equal value (Tom infiltrates Riverrun as an entertainer, for example; ringing bells and blowing horns may all have strategic value, etc.).  In fact, quite a few of the members, besides singing, play one musical instrument or another, e.g. Jack-be-Lucky who blows his hunting horn in order to effectively co-ordinate the clandestine activities (importantly, a 'horn' is also a musical instrument in addition to the other connotations we've unearthed).

One of my favorite 'Brotherhood without Banners' classic songs would be the 'Brothers of the Kingswood':

Quote

A Storm of Swords - Arya III  

There was laughter all around. Then Tom drew his fingers across the strings of his woodharp and broke into soft song.
 

The brothers of the Kingswood,

    they were an outlaw band.

    The forest was their castle,

    but they roamed across the land.

    No man’s gold was safe from them,

    nor any maiden’s hand.

    Oh, the brothers of the Kingswood,

    that fearsome outlaw band...

This song reminds me that the brothers of the Kingswood have much in common with the direwolf brothers and sisters who similarly hold dominion over the wood and for whom the forest is literally their castle, e.g. Summer is the Prince of the Green, Nymeria one might say is the Queen of the Gods Eye, Ghost the King of the Haunted Forest, and Shaggy the Scourge of Skagos.  The following song reminds me of that 'fearsome outlaw band':

 

WOLF

Wolf-mother, where you been?
You look so worn, so thin
You're a taker, devils-maker
Let me hear you sing, hey-ya hey-ya

Wolf-father, at the door
You don't smile anymore
You're a drifter, shape-shifter
Let me see you run, hey-ya hey-ya

Holy light over the night
Oh, keep the spirit strong
Watch it grow, child of war
Oh, keep holdin' on

When I run through the deep dark forest long
After this begun
Where the sun would set
The trees were dead
And the rivers were none
And I hope for a trace
To lead me back home from this place
But there was no sound there was only me, and my disgrace

(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey-a)

Wolf-mother, where you been?
You look so worn, so thin
You're a taker, devils-maker
Let me hear you sing, hey-ya hey-ya

Wolf-father, at the door
You don't smile anymore
You're a drifter, shape-shifter
Let me see you run, hey-ya hey-ya

Wayward winds, a voice that sings
Of a forgotten land
See it fall, child of war
Oh, lend a mending hand

When I run through the deep dark forest long
After this begun
Where the sun would set
The trees were dead
And the rivers were none
And I hope for a trace
To lead me back home from this place
But there was no sound there was only me, and my disgrace

(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey-a)

FIRST AID KIT

 

Anonymous entry on a blog:

This ballad was extracted from Hemliga bok i den stora mörka skogen (The Secret Book of the Great Dark Forest), a 359 parchment pages rare volume presently displayed in the Nordic Museum in Djurgården and believed to date back from the mid 16th century. According to the Swedish mythology, several wolves entered into an agreement with the underground creature Vittra to seduce humans into venturing through the great forest at night by singing strange songs. The few human who followed the wolves into the darkness got lost in vast expanse of swamps where they had to confront their own past, and for some of them, their disgrace, while Vittra, the underground creature, slowly crawled out to meet each of them.

 

 

[Durran Durrandon]

Snow - P D Eastman

" . . .

We will call

Our snowman Ned

But first

He has to have a head.

His head Will have

To have a hat.

His hat is on.

Just look at that!

He is so big.

He is so tall.

He is the biggest

Man of all.

The sun! That sun!

It came out fast.

Do you think Ned

Is going to last? [spoiler: No, he won't]

Keep that sun

Away from Ned!

That san is going

To his head.

The biggest snowman

Of them all

Is very, very

Very small.

..."

 

[LmL]

1 hour ago, Durran Durrandon said:

Snow - P D Eastman

" . . .

We will call

Our snowman Ned

But first

He has to have a head.

His head Will have

To have a hat.

His hat is on.

Just look at that!

He is so big.

He is so tall.

He is the biggest

Man of all.

The sun! That sun!

It came out fast.

Do you think Ned

Is going to last? [spoiler: No, he won't]

Keep that sun

Away from Ned!

That san is going

To his head.

The biggest snowman

Of them all

Is very, very

Very small.

..."

 

Lol, dying over here. 

[Durran Durrandon]

@LmL and @Cowboy Dan thanks for allowing me to share the inside of my head. Browsing the forums and then having the 2 year-old make me read the same story seven times in a row does strange things to it. 

[ravenous reader]

4 hours ago, Durran Durrandon said:

Then my work here is done.

No.  Please don't leave me alone with the 'lunatics on the grass...'  Hi and welcome @Durran Durrandon-- a formidable force of logic and sobriety...!  

 

 

 

Brain Damage

 

The lunatic is on the grass
The lunatic is on the grass
Remembering games and daisy chains and laughs
Got to keep the loonies on the path
The lunatic is in the hall
The lunatics are in my hall
The paper holds their folded faces to the floor
And every day the paper boy brings more
And if the dam breaks open many years too soon
And if there is no room upon the hill
And if your head explodes with dark forbodings too
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon
The lunatic is in my head
The lunatic is in my head
You raise the blade, you make the change
You re-arrange me 'till I'm sane
You lock the door
And throw away the key
There's someone in my head but it's not me.
And if the cloud bursts, thunder in your ear
You shout and no one seems to hear
And if the band you're in starts playing different tunes
I'll see you on the dark side of the moon

"I can't think of anything to say except...
I think it's marvellous! HaHaHa!"

 

 

Eclipse 


All that you touch 
All that you see 
All that you taste 
All you feel. 
All that you love 
All that you hate 
All you distrust 
All you save. 
All that you give 
All that you deal 
All that you buy, 
beg, borrow or steal. 
All you create 
All you destroy 
All that you do 
All that you say. 
All that you eat 
And everyone you meet 
All that you slight 
And everyone you fight. 
All that is now 
All that is gone 
All that's to come 
and everything under the sun is in tune 
but the sun is eclipsed by the moon. 

"There is no dark side of the moon really. Matter of fact it's all dark."

 

 

PINK FLOYD

 

 

Inherited -- everything is inherited from someone -- this one, courtesy Rainer Maria Rilke:

 

IRRE IM GARTEN

Dijon

NOCH schließt die aufgegebene Kartause

sich um den Hof, als wurde etwas heil.

Auch die sie jetzt bewohnen, haben Pause

und nehmen nicht am Leben draußen teil.

Was irgend kommen konnte, das verlief.

Nun gehn sie gerne mit bekannten Wegen,

und trennen sich und kommen sich entgegen,

als ob sie kreisten, willig, primitiv.

Zwar manche pflegen dort die Frühlingsbeete,

demütig, dürftig, hingekniet:

aber sie haben, wenn es keiner sieht,

eine verheimlichte, verdrehte

Gebärde für das zarte frühe Gras,

ein prüfendes, verschüchtertes Liebkosen:

denn das ist freundlich, und das Rot der Rosen

wird vielleicht drohend sein und Übermaß

und wird vielleicht schon wieder übersteigen,

was ihre Seele wiederkennt und weiß.

Dies aber läßt sich noch verschweigen:

wie gut das Gras ist und wie leis.

 

Lunatics in the Garden

Dijon

 

The abandoned monastery still closes

Around the courtyard, as though a wound were healing.

Those who live there now also enjoy recess

And take no part in the life outside.

 

Whatever could happen came and went.

Now they walk gladly with familiar paths,

And separate and come upon each other

As though they circled, willing, primitive.

 

Some of them, true, tend the spring beds there,

Humble, wretched, down on their knees;

But they have, when no one sees it,

A surreptitious, twisted

 

gesture for the tender early grass,

a testing, half-afraid caressing:

for that is friendly, and the roses’ red

may grow menacing and too intense

 

and may once again take them beyond

what their souls recognize and know.

But this can still be kept a secret:

How good the grass is and how soft.

 

                      Rainer Maria Rilke

Translation:  Edward Snow

 

'Now they walk gladly with familiar paths,

And separate and come upon each other

As though they circled, willing, primitive...'  

-- Sounds a bit like this forum, doesn't it?    RR

 

[LmL]

12 minutes ago, ravenous reader said:

'lunatics on the grass...'

pretty sure they call that see-weed

[ravenous reader]

On 1/19/2017 at 8:14 PM, Cowboy Dan said:

THE FLOOD GATES! *Wrings hands deviously* 

On 1/20/2017 at 0:33 AM, Cowboy Dan said:

I'll send you a PM and we can chat a little bit more about this stuff, I'd rather not clutter up RR's nice poetry/reference thread musing on your theory.

Hey @Cowboy Dan-- glad to see you're enjoying yourself over here!   

The idea behind this thread is for us to express ourselves and 'free-associate' as much as we like, so don't worry about 'cluttering' or 'derailing'...As the facilitator of this thread, I have declared upfront that there is nothing and no-one of irrelevance over here (did you read my intro to the thread in which I briefly state my ethos in this respect?)  So, please feel free to argue about 'blue dusks' and the like to your hearts' content, and to switch between poetry and theory etc., should that be where the conversation takes you.  Perhaps some new and valuable insight regarding the text -- or your own life, for that matter -- will have arisen; and that is never a wasted opportunity.

I especially enjoy when the conversation takes off without me, and I can sit back and take in the show; so thank you for generously participating.  By the way, did you catch @YOVMO and @hiemal's sizzling poetry duel?  That was a fun one to watch, as stinging challenges such as 'Excellent job bringing the Rilke. I counter with some Heinrich Heine...' were bandied about; the latter was followed up in quick succession by some Bob Dylan... (you can check out the action, starting here, if you're interested). 

Quote

On the Pink Floyd front (I don't really know Grateful Dead -- it just got brought up because of that hilarious thread) I'll just point you to the animated music video for "Welcome to the Machine" ...

So at ~2:55 there's a quick cut of a decaying body with rats that start running away. The body could be seen as Bloodraven or the warlocks while the (grey?) rats make me think of Dany's travels on the sea and how the rats all flee the ship, a new event for the sailors. 

the really fun stuff starts around 4:45 as we get the image of three reflective white slabs of stone. One is square, another trapezoidal (I think that's the right description) facing each other and the third is a round tower. Once the camera stops a sea of blood comes over the horizon and upon touching the stones begins to turn black too. Waves of "night and blood", which as the camera pans, turn into hands reaching for the sky, a familiar piece of imagery. They are all trying to get to yet another (fourth) stone that is white with a black shadow. The stone then starts ascending into the sky, past the clouds and enters a floating moon-thing emblazoned with a horned shadow that has what looks like a curved blade sticking out of it. On the opposite side is a single dot, like a black eye.

That image was indeed very evocative of 'waves of night and blood'...I especially like how the crimson blood congealed into black...with the waves evolving into a writhing mass of grasping, waving disembodied hands of drowning people, which reminds me of the bloodstained hands of the weirwoods, which as a conglomerate resemble a giant colony of sea anemones ('nennymoan' imagery)!  In addition, I've previously identified 'drowning' in particular as a metaphor for greenseeing initiation and practice, so that image spoke to me.  It also brings to mind the 'dead things in the water,' the 'wights rising,' etc.

Quote

Leaving that behind a fun bit of color symbolism I've picked up is pink and blue with gold in the middle. Pink for dawn, blue for dusk, and gold as the sun in the sky.

I'm curious as to how you interpret that trio of color symbolism in the context of ASOIAF?

The lyrics of the song you highlighted are very suggestive of a number of things:

Quote

With that I'll post The Mountain Goats song "Pink and Blue"

Quote

wind out of Oklahoma this morning
smelled like blood and smoke
and the crows discussed their future
in the branches of their
Louisiana live oak
the limbs are strong and heavy
and its leaves are all aglow
and the branches brush the upper air
but the roots reach down
to where the bad people go

This tree with its personified limbs 'brushing the air' and roots 'reaching down', its 'leaves all aglow' reminds me of the weirwoods.  'Blood and smoke' and 'crows discussing [or telling] the future...and complaining about the finer points of politics in the live oak' evokes the greenseers, particularly Bloodraven (blood and smoke are his colors, not so?) and Bran.

Quote

Quote

and what will i do with you
pink and blue
true gold
nine days old

nice new clothes on you
and an old cardboard produce box for a cradle
i mash some bananas
in a coffee cup
and i fed you there
at the kitchen table
crows outside complaining
about the finer points of local politics
strange wind all full of new smells
rust and fur and reception sticks

and what will i do with you
pink and blue
true gold
nine days old

The first verse and chorus make me think of a lot of familiar imagery. The chorus in particular makes me think how Ned must have felt after ToJ. The second verse though? I'm not talented enough to swing that one.

Regarding the 'blue dusk' you mentioned, that reminds me of Euron's dusky blue lips secondary to his abuse of yet another of GRRM's mind-altering substances, namely 'shade of the evening.'  Symbolically, and perhaps literally (depending on atmospheric conditions), the 'shade' as in color 'of the evening' is blue!   One of Euron's eyes is also blue; the other is the blood eye.  So blue eyes tend to come together with blood. Together with the blue eyes of the Others, signifying the onset of the Long Winter, and the blue Winter roses, etc., there is a cumulative association of the color blue with the Long Night falling on Westeros.  In celestial terms, assuming the 'blood eye' signifies the 'first' moon -- the 'fire moon' -- that was ripped out of the sky, leaving a bloody socket; then we can infer that the remaining eye might signify the remaining moon -- the posited 'ice moon'.  Symbolically, therefore, the color associated with the 'second' remaining moon and any secondary resultant cataclysm is BLUE.  In this scenario, the so-called 'fire moon' would be the 'red' one of the first Long Night, juxtaposed with the 'blue' of the 'ice moon' speculated to bring the second Long Night.

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A Feast for Crows - The Iron Captain

His smiling eye, thought Victarion. "Crow's Eye," he said.

"King Crow's Eye, brother." Euron smiled. His lips looked very dark in the lamplight, bruised and blue.

Here, note the two paired elements I mentioned above, namely blue eye(s) + blood (i.e. the 'bruising').  Also, when Euron nibbles at a woman's neck in a rather predatory fashion, his blue lips draw blood ('hickeys' or 'lovebites' are basically flush bruises created by sucking on the skin which breaks the underlying blood vessels):

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A Feast for Crows - The Reaver

"His lordship's bastard daughter," laughed Hotho. "Before Euron took the castle, she was made to wait at table on the rest and take her own meals with the servants."

Euron put his blue lips to her throat, and the girl giggled and whispered something in his ear. Smiling, he kissed her throat again. Her white skin was covered with red marks where his mouth had been; they made a rosy necklace about her neck and shoulders. Another whisper in his ear, and this time the Crow's Eye laughed aloud, then slammed his wine cup down for silence. "Good ladies," he called out to his highborn serving women, "Falia is concerned for your fine gowns. She would not have them stained with grease and wine and dirty groping fingers, since I have promised that she may choose her own clothes from your wardrobes after the feast. So you had best disrobe.

 

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A Game of Thrones - Eddard X

"And now it begins," said Ser Arthur Dayne, the Sword of the Morning. He unsheathed Dawn and held it with both hands. The blade was pale as milkglass, alive with light.

"No," Ned said with sadness in his voice. "Now it ends." As they came together in a rush of steel and shadow, he could hear Lyanna screaming. "Eddard!" she called. A storm of rose petals blew across a blood-streaked sky, as blue as the eyes of death.

"Lord Eddard," Lyanna called again.

Here the paired elements, as I mentioned above, of blue eye(s) + blood.

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A Clash of Kings - Daenerys IV

. . . help her . . . the whispers mocked. . . . show her . . .

Then phantoms shivered through the murk, images in indigo. Viserys screamed as the molten gold ran down his cheeks and filled his mouth. A tall lord with copper skin and silver-gold hair stood beneath the banner of a fiery stallion, a burning city behind him. Rubies flew like drops of blood from the chest of a dying prince, and he sank to his knees in the water and with his last breath murmured a woman's name. . . . mother of dragons, daughter of death . . . Glowing like sunset, a red sword was raised in the hand of a blue-eyed king who cast no shadow. 

Following the formula I've posited, the 'red sword' represents a 'bloody' sword accompanying the blue eyes.  The 'blue-eyed king who cast no shadow' recalls a Night's King archetype, since only those who are already dead, or undead, cast no shadow -- already being 'shadows' themselves!

Another quote where Stannis resembles the Night's King and his eyes of  'night' are compared to a dark blue sea, which additionally links the blue eyes and the Long Night by extension to greenseers, in light of my 'sea/see' pun:

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A Clash of Kings - Prologue

Stannis Baratheon, Lord of Dragonstone and by the grace of the gods rightful heir to the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros, was broad of shoulder and sinewy of limb, with a tightness to his face and flesh that spoke of leather cured in the sun until it was as tough as steel. Hard was the word men used when they spoke of Stannis, and hard he was. Though he was not yet five-and-thirty, only a fringe of thin black hair remained on his head, circling behind his ears like the shadow of a crown. His brother, the late King Robert, had grown a beard in his final years. Maester Cressen had never seen it, but they said it was a wild thing, thick and fierce. As if in answer, Stannis kept his own whiskers cropped tight and short. They lay like a blue-black shadow across his square jaw and the bony hollows of his cheeks. His eyes were open wounds beneath his heavy brows, a blue as dark as the sea by night. His mouth would have given despair to even the drollest of fools; it was a mouth made for frowns and scowls and sharply worded commands, all thin pale lips and clenched muscles, a mouth that had forgotten how to smile and had never known how to laugh. Sometimes when the world grew very still and silent of a night, Maester Cressen fancied he could hear Lord Stannis grinding his teeth half a castle away.

This one is interesting:

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A Clash of Kings - Jon VIII

The Halfhand eased himself to the ground and sat cross-legged by the fire, the flickering light playing across the hard planes of his face. Only the two of them remained of the five rangers who had fled the Skirling Pass, back into the blue-grey wilderness of the Frostfangs.

At first Jon had nursed the hope that Squire Dalbridge would keep the wildlings bottled up in the pass. But when they'd heard the call of a far-off horn every man of them knew the squire had fallen. Later they spied the eagle soaring through the dusk on great blue-grey wings and Stonesnake unslung his bow, but the bird flew out of range before he could so much as string it.

In mythical astronomy terms, the dusky blue eagle could represent the return of the comet and subsequent 'ice moon' meteor shower which LmL has likened to dark birds flying down from the moon, in turn giving rise to an enormous rising dust cloud, also frequently likened to a flock of blue, grey or black birds flying up to cover the sun and moon and thereby ushering in a Long Night. For example, here:

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A Clash of Kings - Theon VI

The crows came in the blue dusk, with the evening stars. "The Dothraki believe the stars are spirits of the valiant dead," Theon said. Maester Luwin had told him that, a long time ago."

While we're on 'blue,' something which @Blue Tiger brought up recently is quite interesting, namely in the context of his speculation that a meteor strike could potentially give rise to increased volcanic activity, which in itself might be responsible for the cloud of dust and debris serving to blot out the sun and moon.  Intriguingly, he then went on to mention various houses with sigils involving moons including House Poole, which strikes me as a 'blue moon' image with its blue plate on a white background.  

A volcanic ash cloud has been known to literally turn a moon a bluish color due to the large size of the particles cluttering the atmosphere which preferentially scatter light of red rather than blue wavelengths.  Typically, in the event of such an eruption or other conflagration (e.g. massive forest fire), the sun and moon would be tinged blue vs. the sky which would be stained a bright crimson in contrast -- just like the red-blue symbolic duo I argued for above representing the blue eye (analogous to the celestial orbs) and blood (sky) respectively.  You might be interested to know that during a lunar eclipse the moon is tinged both red ('blood moon') and blue, corresponding with the umbra (the core of earth's shadow cast on the moon) and penumbra (the rim of the shadow) respectively.  Accordingly, it might be informative to revisit all the sigils containing 'blue moons,' e.g. House Harclaw with its three moons which BT has also brought to our attention.  

Curiously, the idiom 'once in a blue moon,' which has come to mean a rare occurrence, additionally has an astronomical explanation.  Basically, the usual pattern is a season having a total of 3 full moons.  However, 'once in a blue moon' there are 4 instead of 3 full moons in a season, to give a total of 13 moons instead of the usual 12 -- which recapitulates the 12+1 configuration of the Last Hero and his companions, making the 'blue moon' in this scenario the equivalent of the 'Last Hero,' 'Night's King' or 'Bloodstone Emperor,' all of which it can be argued display the 12+1 pattern.  In this context, it's interesting that the term 'blue moon' is thought to originate from the Old Engish word 'belewe', possibly having the double meaning of both 'blue' and 'to betray,' hence another word for the blue moon was a 'traitor moon' because it messed up the expected seasonal order and corresponding human calendar!  By convention, the third moon presenting of the four in a season is given the designation of 'blue moon,' although of course it is not actually blue as in the case of the volcanic-eruption, atmospheric light-scattering phenomena.

Herewith, a short video about blue moons.

18 hours ago, Cowboy Dan said:

There's a lot of really cool mythology and stories surrounding eclipses. A couple recurring ones I keep noticing are that it's about the sun and moon fighting or that it's about some entity/deity swallowing the sun. There was a really cool essay I read titled "The Sun-Eating Dragon" I wanted to research the myths on but sadly the page got archived, breaking the links, so 3/4 of the pages are inaccessible.

Maybe @Blue Tiger will send you a link to the Norse myths he's detailed about the two brother wolves (whom I believe are analogous to Bran and Jon) who chase and devour the moon and sun at Ragnarok.  So long, you can look at this:

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Fenrir and Other Wolves in Norse Mythology

There’s good reason to think that many of the other wolves mentioned in Old Norse literature are actually Fenrir going under different names. One Old Norse poem states that he swallows the sun during Ragnarok,^[4] a feat which is elsewhere reserved for another wolf named Sköll (“Mockery”). Another old Norse poem repeatedly mentions a wolf named Garmr who breaks free from chains at Ragnarok; this is almost certainly Fenrir.^[5] In another source, we find the wolf who consumes the moon called by the name of “Moon-garmr” (Mánagarmr).^[6]Thus, the moon-eating wolf, who is elsewhere called Háti (“Hatred”) would seem to be another extension of Fenrir. It appears that it was ultimately Fenrir who, in addition to killing Odin and destroying much of the world, ate the sun and the moon during Ragnarok.

From: http://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/giants/fenrir/

ETA:  I think the wolf who breaks free of his chains at Ragnarok is primarily Bran, the 'winged wolf' prophesied to break the stone chains (I think Bran is going on a spaceflight of sorts..I'll tell you about my 'Deep Impact Drogon' theory sometime, should you be interested!)

18 hours ago, Cowboy Dan said:

 I love the way your brain makes connections, great follow-up poem!

Thanks Cowboy!   

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On 1/20/2017 at 2:12 AM, ravenous reader said:

But they have, when no one sees it,
A surreptitious, twisted

gesture for the tender early grass,
a testing, half-afraid caressing:
for that is friendly, and the roses’ red
may grow menacing and too intense

and may once again take them beyond
what their souls recognize and know.

That bit hit a little too close to home with regards to my own recent lunacy. Cool stuff!

Isn't Rilke great?  Unfortunately, the word 'lunacy' has derogatory connotations, so I don't normally use it outside a literary context.  From a literary perspective, it's a point of curiosity, for example, that it's originally derived from the word for moon, as in 'lunar' -- Latin lunaticus='moonstruck' -- which should please you, since you're into moons and their phases!  I particularly love the line about the red of the roses being too intense for those who can sometimes see them in all their redness at that overwhelming unfiltered 'wavelength', in contrast to which the green of the grass can be soothing at those times of heightened perception.  Art can be quite healing, taking one out of ones isolation, in order to realise how many people have experienced the same, or at least understand where you're coming from.  On the other hand, too much Pink Floyd can be a downer -- time for more upbeat stuff, as far as music goes!  

A final thought: I think what the subtext of the poem is hinting at is that we're all 'lunatics on the grass', each in his or her own way sequestered in our individual courtyards, which while providing a useful framework for making sense of the world and ourselves, are nevertheless like prisons.  As we've seen with the weirwoods, even a lush green garden may harbor a 'fishing garth' (trap).

 

Ed È Subito Sera

 

“Ognuno sta solo sul cuor della terra
trafitto da un raggio di sole:
ed e subito sera

Everyone stands alone at the heart of the world,
pierced by a ray of sunlight, 
and suddenly it’s evening.” 
 

― Salvatore Quasimodo, Tutte le poesie

 

[LmL]

2 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

Regarding the 'blue dusk' you mentioned, that reminds me of Euron's dusky blue lips secondary to his abuse of yet another of GRRM's mind-altering substances, namely 'shade of the evening.'  Symbolically, and perhaps literally (depending on atmospheric conditions), the 'shade' as in color 'of the evening' is blue!   One of Euron's eyes is also blue; the other is the blood eye.  So blue eyes tend to come together with blood. Together with the blue eyes of the Others, signifying the onset of the Long Winter, and the blue Winter roses, etc., there is a cumulative association of the color blue with the Long Night falling on Westeros.  In celestial terms, assuming the 'blood eye' signifies the 'first' moon -- the 'fire moon' -- that was ripped out of the sky, leaving a bloody socket; then we can infer that the remaining eye might signify the remaining moon -- the posited 'ice moon'.  Symbolically, therefore, the color associated with the 'second' remaining moon and any secondary resultant cataclysm is BLUE.  In this scenario, the so-called 'fire moon' would be the 'red' one of the first Long Night, juxtaposed with the 'blue' of the 'ice moon' speculated to bring the second Long Night.

Nods head in agreement. And a giant facepalm to myself for not thinking of the "Shade of the Evening" clue. Does this indicate the Ducky Woman is indeed Euron's tool? 

 

2 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

Another quote where Stannis resembles the Night's King and his eyes of  'night' are compared to a dark blue sea, which additionally links the blue eyes and the Long Night by extension to greenseers, in light of my 'sea/see' pun:

Ah, forgot about that quote, great find. A blue see?That's another NK = frozen greenseer clue, right? That means we might have AA moving from red to blue. 

 

2 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

While we're on 'blue,' something which @Blue Tiger brought up recently is quite interesting, namely in the context of his speculation that a meteor strike could potentially give rise to increased volcanic activity, which in itself might be responsible for the cloud of dust and debris serving to blot out the sun and moon.  Intriguingly, he then went on to mention various houses with sigils involving moons including House Poole, which strikes me as a 'blue moon' image with its blue plate on a white background.  

A volcanic ash cloud has been known to literally turn a moon a bluish color due to the large size of the particles cluttering the atmosphere which preferentially scatter light of red rather than blue wavelengths.  Typically, in the event of such an eruption or other conflagration (e.g. massive forest fire), the sun and moon would be tinged blue vs. the sky which would be stained a bright crimson in contrast -- just like the red-blue symbolic duo I argued for above representing the blue eye (analogous to the celestial orbs) and blood (sky) respectively.  You might be interested to know that during a lunar eclipse the moon is similarly tinged blue.  Accordingly, it might be informative to revisit all the sigils containing 'blue moons,' e.g. House Harclaw with its three moons which BT has also brought to our attention.  

Curiously, the idiom 'once in a blue moon,' which has come to mean a rare occurrence, additionally has an astronomical explanation.  Basically, the usual pattern is a season having a total of 3 full moons.  However, 'once in a blue moon' there are 4 instead of 3 full moons in a season, to give a total of 13 moons instead of the usual 12 -- which recapitulates the 12+1 configuration of the Last Hero and his companions, making the 'blue moon' in this scenario the equivalent of the 'Last Hero,' 'Night's King' or 'Bloodstone Emperor,' all of which it can be argued display the 12+1 pattern.  In this context, it's interesting that the term 'blue moon' is thought to originate from the Old Engish word 'belewe', possibly having the double meaning of both 'blue' and 'to betray,' hence another word for the blue moon was a 'traitor moon' because it messed up the expected seasonal order and corresponding human calendar!  By convention, the third moon presenting of the four in a season is given the designation of 'blue moon,' although of course it is not actually blue as in the case of the volcanic-eruption, atmospheric light-scattering phenomena.

Herewith, a short video about blue moons.

Super interesting, and that all makes sense in terms of ASOIAF symbolism. The thing about a red sky with a blue moon during a volcano is intriguing.  It does sound like the ToJ description, but no volcano clues there. I assume that an impact winter ash and debris cloud would probably have the same effects, however. And during a solar eclipse, the sky turns pretty red. 

Thanks for that great info!

2 hours ago, ravenous reader said:

7 hours ago, Cowboy Dan said:

There's a lot of really cool mythology and stories surrounding eclipses. A couple recurring ones I keep noticing are that it's about the sun and moon fighting or that it's about some entity/deity swallowing the sun. There was a really cool essay I read titled "The Sun-Eating Dragon" I wanted to research the myths on but sadly the page got archived, breaking the links, so 3/4 of the pages are inaccessible.

Maybe @Blue Tiger will send you a link to the Norse myths he's detailed about the two brother wolves (whom I believe are analogous to Bran and Jon) who chase and devour the moon and sun at Ragnarok.  So long, you can look at this:

Quote

@Cowboy Dan what's this now? You gotta tell a brother when you find good eclipse mythology. Everything you are saying is consistent with the moon cracking from the sun's heat during an eclipse to birth dragons idea. 

So it might be the same wolf eating the sun and the moon? That is interesting. 

[LmL]

Here's one for the blue moon crowd. Brienne the Blue, who has Morningstar Evenstar symbolism - which is to say child of sun and moon / AA reborn symbosim, in terms of ASOIAF - but she also shows us he ice moon from whence she came. As a Morningstar child of the ice moon, she is parallel to Jon in many ways - ponder that, those of you who are better than I at misusing our character arc themes and such. 

Check the symbolism in this passage:

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“If you left us, where would you go?” Catelyn asked her.

“Back,” Brienne said. “To Storm’s End.”

“Alone.” It was not a question. The broad face was a pool of still water, giving no hint of what might live in the depths below.

“Yes.”

“You mean to kill Stannis.”

Brienne closed her thick callused fingers around the hilt of her sword. The sword that had been his. “I swore a vow. Three times I swore. You heard me.”

“I did,” Catelyn admitted. The girl had kept the rainbow cloak when she discarded the rest of her bloodstained clothing, she knew. Brienne’s own things had been left behind during their flight, and she had been forced to clothe herself in odd bits of Ser Wendel’s spare garb, since no one else in their party had garments large enough to fit her.

So, blue pool, a match for Jeyne Pool (who is definitely an ice moon symbol, I don't have time to pull the passages but they are there when she's in WF. And we know she got frostbite after escaping - that is termed as "having the cold inside you" in the prologue, akin to Mel and Dany's "having the fire inside you." 

Then we have her rainbow cloak - rainbows imply crystals and ice, all the symbolism of the Wall, septons crystals, crystal swords of the Others and the Warrior's Sons, and so on. A rainbow cloak is like being armored in ice, though surely not black ice.

But as an ice moon symbol, she should carry around a symbol of the fire moon embedded in her, right? 

Oathkeeper, one half of Black Ice.