True Grace and Mercy

[JoanOfArc 4586]

True Grace and Mercy

Written by Keeper Heron Volaren

In honor of Paragon Aelfwynn and Albatross Volaren

 

An artist’s depiction of Paragon Aelfwynn in the woods metaphorically prepping for her hunt against the Bandit King.

 

---

My Father, you know who I am.

You see into my soul, and the evils of my mind.

Does this soul satisfy you, my heavenly Father?

Me alone, do you see some hidden virtue,

Or some hidden reason you keep me down here for?

 

Anger, Jealousy, Greed, Gluttony, Bitterness,

These are what my soul is at all times.

I am wicked, villainous; I am evil incarnate.

My body is deformed, my words are ever twisted,

Not a single part of me is worth a single copper coin.

And yet, I exist.

 

Into iniquity, my earthly father was born the same.

His life filled with war and carousing, moving and changing,

Does this life satisfy you, my earthly father?

Is our curse that our souls shall never be filled,

And the roots that bind families together never be fully planted?

 

I wish for us to be righteous, to be honorable, to be united forever,

To be more than this.

But our beings are desolate and evil, broken and foul.

Like fountains of true evil, forever spewing forth the Darkness,

And yet, we exist.

 

This is true grace and mercy,

The proof of your benevolence, that we so exist.

While I see only the evils of the terra that I inhabit,

You see much more than that,

For you only see goodness.

 

They call you, Allfather, a raging fire and an all-consuming flame.

When I was yet a girl and heard the Keeper say this,

I thought you were cruel and harsh,

Burning away your victims into nothingness,

Purging them of their existence.

 

But now, to be a maiden grown,

I see this thought as nothing but folly.

You are flame, you are raging fire,

But a flame that purifies, that cleanses us from the Darkness,

Replacing our evils with nothing but goodness.

 

Through your flame, do we know peace.

Through your flame, do we know tranquility.

Through your flame, do we know humility.

Through your flame, do we know fullness.

Through your flame, do we know relief.

 

Perhaps, in this life,

We shall not find all of this trueness.

Perhaps, in this life,

We shall find only the evilness,

Of the Darkness.

 

So, until then, I shall yearn for the next days,

When I can be united with my ancestors,

In the glory of the Father’s Halls up above,

With my earthly father by my side,

Finding eternal rest and favor in His sight.

---

[Nectorist 7436]

“Lots of big words there, kiddo. Makes sense, though,” says Albatross, the man, though not scholarly or overtly pious, approvingly mightily of his daughter’s work.

[LatzMomo 2088]

Robin Volaren squints. "One of my kin I'SNT a brigand?" he says in utter disbelief, incredibly proud.