to Ascalon

[ellenkushner]

I don't think I'd ever read Joan Aiken's The Shadow Guests before.

This verse - sung by the ghost of a young boy headed off to the Crusades who isn't very good at fighting, and repeated at the end of the novel - justabout breaks my heart:

See the crusader
Stride up the lane.
He will be a hero
When he comes again.

Gallant are they
Who now have gone
With helmet and sword
To Ascalon.
If he be not
In battle slain
He will be a hero
When he comes again.

Comments

[j-bluestocking.livejournal.com]

I like this a lot. There's a deceptive simplicity about it that makes you shiver. I thought, what does it remind me of? -- and, perhaps oddly, I came up with Robert Frost, "Stopping By The Woods On A Snowy Evening." Another deceptively simple little poem that gave me the shivers the first time I read it. And he was into repetition, too -- miles to go before I sleep; he will be a hero when he comes again.

[rojomojo.livejournal.com]

as a younger male, I never understood the sentiment that would make a hero of a warrior when he goes to war (and even bigger if he came back). As a male who is AARP eligible (okay, I pass up the Wendy's discount because I am in denial), I still do not under stand it. It troubles me because most wars (especially for Americans) are fought on foreign soil and why go there? It is one thing to defend home and family, but a religion or a way of life... Why do not the leaders of such crusades go to the front lines themselves? rojo

[dancingwriter.livejournal.com]

That is heartbreaking. I'll have to look for a copy of The Shadow Guests....

on a lighter note...

[ewein2412]

Joan Aiken's verse is effortless, lyric and gorgeous, and usually hidden in her prose. I think this is from The Stolen Lake (more or less):

Eating a nuncheon
all by myself
isn't much fun
but when it's with YOU
any old stew,
any ragout
will do!
When it's with you it's a treat,
Who cares a fig what we eat?

Going upstairs
all by myself
isn't much fun
but when it's with YOU
any venue
will do.
Just choose a rendezvous!
When it's with you it's a swizz,
who gives a hoot where it is?

[winterbadger]

"Shadow Guests"? I think that's actually a Joan Aiken I haven't read. I'll have to track it down...

[(Anonymous)]

Reading Rojomojo's post, I recall that as a younger male (yes, I too am AARP eligible but I didn't know Wendy's had a discount) in Vietnam, we all somehow discovered that when the ancient Athenian senate voted for war, the senators made up the front line. That info probably came from a draftee with a classical education who his lost student deferment.

It remains an excellent idea. If our darling Congress and President had to be in the front line of any spat they want to stir up, there would be fewer spoons in the pot.

Pax,

Al...

[handworn.livejournal.com]

I always loved Joan Aiken, especially when I was a kid. I think-- I'm pretty sure-- that I've read the one you mention, but it's quite uncommon.

[handworn.livejournal.com]

Why go there? Because it's a phase all powers pass through. The Romans did it, the British did it. Because we're never on the shit end of the stick any more as far as war goes, and because we are as powerful as we are, if there isn't a war every so often people get antsy. This would change in a hurry if there were a real war in the U.S.. Notice the longest war-free period of modern American history was right after the Civil War, when most Americans had a closer knowledge of war and what it means.