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The fall of the cards

from The Jester's Quest in the City of Glass by Lyrian

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    Three hideously ugly children captured by witches and boiled in a pot until they were rendered into a flat, silvery disk and buried in a transparent plastic coffin.

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lyrics

Fit the Fifth: The Fall of the Cards (A Quip for a Jester’s Ear)

Narrator: The Jester wakes to find himself back in the City of Glass. He can no longer see the building with the green tree symbol, and finds that his jester’s costume has changed colour from dark blue to pale blue. He wonders if it was bleached by the sea during his dream, but realises this makes no sense. He rises and walks on, none the wiser.

Jester: The people of the city hurry by
Tall and fair, rushing past with disdain
They do not seem to see me, but I try
To be heard and to jest, but in vain

I join the throng and swept along I soon see before me
One figure rather taller than the crowd
In robes of brown – the skies grow stormy
Glowing, turning, eddying with cloud

I chase the brown-clad figure as it flies
Through the storm, growing wild, growing foul
And catch it up at last and seek its eyes
Hidden deep in the folds of its cowl

The face I find is eyeless, ancient, female and fly-blown
She cocks her head to hear the thing I ask
Her skin is grey and crumbling like dry stone
Expressionless as if it were a mask

Her lips are black and glistening and wet with mirth
They ask me what I am seeking. I say ‘The Earth’
A hand of bone and parchment crawls out from her sleeve
And grasps my shoulder with a strength I can’t believe

‘Come with me’ she whispers as she leads me to a door
Draws me through into a room with scarlet walls and floor
And to a throne beset with shards
Of bone, the skulls of beasts and fish
Beside a table with a pack of cards
She bids me sit and ask her what I wish

Narrator: He asks, ‘What is your name?’
She turns a card, it is The Moon
He asks the woman, ‘Who am I?’
She turns a card, it is The Star
He asks ‘What does that last card mean?’
The Tower Struck-Down is the next card
He asks ‘Does that mean I shall die?’
And she turns The Wheel of Fortune
Once more he asks her ‘Who am I?’
She turns up Temperance, inverted
‘Riddles, riddles!’ cries the Jester.
She tells him ‘That is not a question.’
The Jester asks ‘What do I seek?’
She shows The World turned upside-down
He asks ‘Where will I find it?’
The next card is The Hermit.
Then asks ‘How shall I know it?’
The next card is The Devil.
He asks her ‘What shall I do with it?’
She shows him The Magician.
He asks ‘What will become of me?’
The last card is The Lovers.

The old woman takes this last card and raises it to her face. When she withdraws it again she is young and beautiful. She offers the Jester the card and he takes it. He asks her if it means they will be lovers, but she runs to the door and flings it open. The Jester passes through, and the young woman closes the door behind him. He looks down at the card in his hand and notices two things. It is no longer The Lovers, but The Fool. And the sleeve of his garment, indeed all his attire, has changed from blue to green.

credits

from The Jester's Quest in the City of Glass, released April 1, 2016

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Lyrian Moreton In Marsh, UK

John Blake: guitars, singing
Alison Felstead: bass, singing
Paul W. Nash: keyboards, guitars, woodwinds, singing
Edgar Wilde: drums, percussion

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