35: Poems of Another World (Spirits of the Sea)

A poem/myth from another world about a spirit which attacks sailors at sea. 

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Can you catch a Wisper spirit

The Wild Wind of ancient Iseer?

It brings with it, the most terrible storms

It slyly hides on the sky's tides

It is invisible and formless.

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But it's howl! Greater than any breeze

How it stalks from the raging heavens

And hunts within the darkest storms

The first sailor will go without warning

It appears an accident; it is not an accident

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One by one they then begin to fall

Their bodies tossed to the Gold Sea

And as they drown, the Wisper feasts

on their resentful spirits, and all the crew

Is vanished before the storm is gone.

***

No sword can puncture it

No axe can cut it

Neither can a spear pierce it

nor can it be burned

or bled, or frozen, or buried.

***

To catch a Wisper spirit, let fly your largest sails

Hold them open to the storm and pray.

If you spy a rogue squall, dancing its own tune

amid the hurricane's violent twists and turns

There lies your catch, and the sails, your net.

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Wait for its hunger, and watch it pounce

When the wind's whispers touch your ears

Lure it to the mast and let fall your sails

Until the rogue squall is all covered by the veil

And tie it up until no air can escape

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After the Wisper spirit is caught, 

Watch it rage against the seal

It will not last long, so you must hurry

Take up your oars and row

bring the ship to calmer waters posthaste

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And when you have evacuated the storm,

Overcome the odds, and survived the darkest clouds;

open your tattered sail and watch the Wisper gasp

Hear its last cries as it leaves its natural habitat

And its wild wind is tamed by the calm of the open sea

***

Should you find yourself contending

Against the Wild Wisper of ancient Iseer,

Steel yourself for terror; nothing is as dreadful.

Fight back with all of your cunning and wit

But probably, you will still die in the end.

***

Beware the Wisper spirit, beware of ancient Iseer

The ghosts of a dead Thalassocracy are screaming

And their anger haunts the deep thickly.

You do not want to be caught in their formless talons

You do not want to join them beneath the waves.

***

The ocean is deep and boundless

Who knows what harrowing legends they saw.

You do not want to see them either

and so, with all of your wisdom and might

beware the Wisper spirit, and beware of ancient Iseer.