EPOS AND EDDA
    by Steven F. Boettcher

The Storm

The wind is blowing hard.
The clouds whisper in.
The rain falls.
Lightning strikes the sky.
Lighting this dreary day.
Thunder crashes through the air.

Can you hear it?
This is a dreadful day.
Only the sick, only the strange
Would dare and enter this weather.
Only the sane would sit inside
And hope for a change.

Yesterday, it was different.
The sun was shining.
The birds were flying.
It was a beautiful day.
Nobody could have seen.
Nobody could have known.
Nobody could have guessed
That the next day would
Bring such misery, such
Heartache, such anguish.
How could it have changed so?
How come nobody saw it coming?
Where were the weathermen?
Where were their eyes looking?
Where were their minds?

The Storm.
The storm just came.
Where did it come from?
When will it stop?
 

The weatherman has no answer.
 

'They have no idea.
They have no brains,'
Cried the old woman
Sitting by the window
Staring at the rain,
At the lightning, at the destruction.

'When will it stop?'
The old woman was about to say.
Thunder cut her off
With its louder voice.

The Storm.

The storm raged on, and on.
No end in sight.
Thunder echoed through the house.
Making the old woman jump, as a mouse
Came out of his hole to see
What that noise, he
Had heard, was.

Lightning, brighter than fire
Streaking up the sky.
Moving along like a live wire.
See that one, it was close.
We better take care.

Flash, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Six, Crash,
It's six miles away.
Flash, One, Two, Three, Four, Five, Crash,
It's getting closer.

'Let's watch out!'
The old woman said,
'I can't believe this.
When I was much less older, my mind couldn't miss.
Never was there a storm like this.
Is this storm his?
Oh, Almighty, father of Chrissss
What is this, some kind of last kiss.'
 

The weatherman says
This is strange. This is impossible.
It is mad.
 

HE told the man of the ark
That he would not make the Earth dark
By flooding it with rain.
Can he feel our pain?
What is the cause?

Wait!
Did the rain pause?
No, the rain still falls.
The wind just shifted it to other walls.
Will it ever stop?

I can't stand to feel another drop
Falling from the ceiling
With no remorse, no feeling.
 

The weatherman says
Ten inches so far.  More to come.
If this were snow, it would be ten times the sun.
 

The rain is falling harder, the old woman notes.
I ask if she sees any of the boats.

'No,' she says and adds
'I didn't know cars can float
Nor some old fat goat.'

The Storm. The Storm.

Is it Noah's storm all over again?
Will the earth be killed again?
Will we all die?
Will Noah come to save us all?
Will anybody here me?

Crash! Flash. Crash!

The storm is upon us.
The old woman is still watching.
How's it going, I ask?

'Fine,' she says, hiding behind a mask.

Fine? How could it be?
Doesn't she see?
 

The weatherman says
He found the answer. It comes from above.
It is not an Earth disturbance.
 

What, I cry!
Is HE really the cause?
No, HE wouldn't break his promise.
But then who or what is
The cause for all of this?

'What did you say?'
I heard the old woman say.

The Storm.

The Storm.
I shout
And I tell her all about
The story the weatherman told.

The weatherman says
A ship larger than New York is doing this.
Can Anyone Help?

'It is you he is calling'
The old woman's heart started falling
'But I'm just an old lady,
Yet, it may be true, maybe?
Let us go
And see what I can do.
It is all up to me, so
Prepare me a stew.
I must be strong,
I hope you know.
Time moves, hours are but a few.
Rain still falls,
It might turn to snow.
Get me my coat,
Get me my shoe.
Now, let us go,
You and I.'

The door opened, rain rushed in,
But the old woman did not flinch.
She didn't even get wet.
(Neither did I), how strange?
She chanted some words
Words of a different tongue
Words of a different world.
She beckoned me to follow
I wanted to stay and say no
But her words pulled at me
Those eyes took away my plea,
And I was out the door.
The old woman, she took me by the hand
And sprayed my eyes with Merlin's sand
(Or so she said).

Soon afterwards, we were flying,
Flying through the air,
Flying through the rain,
Flying through the Storm.
 

The weatherman says
The ship wants to bargain, Isn't that a laugh.
They want us to give up our planet.
 

Higher and Higher we rose
I couldn't say for sure
But I think we were hit by lightning.
Now I know that the saying was a lie.
Lightning can strike twice.
Higher and Higher we went,
The wind blowing and bent,
The higher and higher we were,
The strain on the old woman grew.
We have got to stop!
I called.

She said, 'no.'

I could tell, she was appalled.
Old woman, we must rest.

'No child, we must do our best.'
 

The weatherman says
The aliens don' t want the old Fijian to come.
Beware out there.
 

A tornado fell from the clouds.
Now we're done for,
I screamed.
Hang tight, were in for a twister.
Oh brother, Oh sister.
Oh my lord, save us,
I prayed.

'Fear not, my friend
Old woman, I may, helpless is a child,
So listen to what I say.
Believe in yourself
Before you know yourself
See my self
Believe in your inner self.'

I'll try.
I believe,
No wind will make me leave.
We'll make it, I know.

Old woman,
'Go, Go, Go!'

Higher and higher we go
(The clouds look like black snow.)
Faster and faster we fly
In the warring sky.
 

The weatherman says
The ship has spotted you .
Escape while you can!
 

Never, We'll Win.
We'll fight till the end.
The clouds are below,
Below the old woman,
Below her friend.
Here is peace.
Here is calm.
Here is where Earth leaves
And space begins.
We're in space now.
Space is black
Space is dark
Space is wide
Space is infinity.
The stars shine brighter
Than the stars on Earth.
Here you feel lighter,
Where you can see stars give birth.

'Where is the ship?'
Old woman asks me.

Over the horizon, I cry.
Over the horizon.

Space.

The stars shine bright,
The twinkle is gone.
What a magnificent sight.
Let us go on.
I can't hear the weatherman
Says I to the old woman.
We're in space.
Space, The last frontier.

Space.

The ship is coming up fast.
What a ship it is,
I thought to myself in flabbergast.
Incredible, I say to her.

'The ship is huge,'
Explained the old woman.
'It is an entire city.'

I hope they don't hurt us
The ship shone in
Against the velvet
It was awesome,
As it opened it's face.
I prayed.
Silver drops of space.
Inside, lights shone all around
Bright, bright as the day.
It was big.
Bigger than anything ever known,
Bigger than the sun.

The weatherman says...
 

The Ship
 

A table and some chairs
On top, some drinks, some pears
A turkey and stuffing
Graced with cranberry sauce and a muffin.
How delicious.
Old woman, where are we?
What will we see?
Are we the main course?
I hope we're not.

'It is our time
To rid our planet of the crime.
He must fight,
Fight here for what is right.
Come let us begin.'

In came many aliens
Green in armor - they glowed.
Large in size, they were
Ready to kill.

The old woman was ready
She knew what to do.
She always did.

Like lightning, she struck.
Bellowing in a frenzy
Screaming in ecstasy.
Knowing she would win.
Down went the green aliens
One by one.
Two by two.
All were destroyed,
Except for one.

He stood proudly
Tall and stern,
He gave a big smile.
She accepted it with pleasure.

'You have past the test,' he said.
'You did your very best.
They are dead.'

'Thank you lord,' was her reply.
'I have earned the sword.' 'May you give it to me?'

'Yes, the sword you earned.
That much, I have learned.
But, the sword is not yet yours,
First you must walk
Through the doors.'

The Door that Destroys.
The Door that creates.
The Door that Lies.
The Door that Holds the Truth.

'Come lad,' she called to me.

Yes old woman, how may I help you?
(I didn't want to, but I had no choice.)

In we went her and I.
It Dark was a room,
It was almost as dark
As the darkest mind.

The Door that Destroys

The old woman was not scared.
I was scared.
That was true enough,
Yet, I felt strong.
I knew she was by my side.
She held her hand up.

Light, bright light came from her palm.

Behind us a door.
What a huge door!
Ahead of us,
Horror!

Images, Death, Destruction!

I can't look.
She says I must!
I do as she says.

This is no room.
This is Earth,
I know little children are dying, starving.
Killers roaming in the streets.
Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Volcanoes!

I could not look, could not help.
I had to look!, old woman says.
I look.

A little boy, almost naked
Runs to me. He is crying.
I hold out my hand.
He never makes it to me.
He's dead.
I can't stand it, I yell.
I fell down on my knees.
I cried.

Old woman, Old woman, I call
Can you help these people?
They need help!

'No!' was her answer.

Why, but why?

'We're not here to help,' she began,
'We're here to observe.'

The weatherman says
Rain will come. Yes it will.
But not for the rice.

Bow long must we stay?
I've seen enough.
It is something I will never forget.

'Good. It's time.
My Lord,' the old woman sang,
'We have past through the door,
The Door that Destroys.
We live. We learned.
'Now it is time for us to walk
We must now walk
Through the door,
The Door that Creates.'

Old woman, old woman,
I do not want to go.

'But you must.'

Why must I go?
Why is it so important?

'I will tell you,' she said.
'The universe needs us,' she shook her head.
'I am the power,' her eyes turned red,
'And you're the weakness!'

My heart went dead.

Shock! Fear!
Anger'
Disappointment!
Confusion?

I don't understand.
If I am the weakness
And you're the power,
Then why bring me?

'You misunderstand.
You're not your weakness,
Nor are you mine.
Can you not see?
Can you not feel?'

I can t say another word.

'You must learn for yourself.
Come, the lord says,
We must walk
Through the door,
The Door that Creates.

The weatherman says
It is a sunny day. It looks great.

The Door that Creates

Bright lights.
The air smells clean.
Too clean.

I hate that smell.
We're in a hospital. There, in the middle of the room,
Five people around a table.
One is a doctor,
The others are assistants and nurses.
On the table is a woman.
She is in agony.
She screams.
Her legs are spread.
The doctor is at that end.
She screams.
Doctor yells, "Push!"
She pushed.
The Doctor yells again.
She screams.
She pushes.
Again, I can't look.
I know what will happen next.
I've seen it before.
I don't want to see it again.
Too much blood.

Look, the old woman says.
I look.
There is blood.
A lot of blood,
But everybody is happy.
It's a girl.
We leave.
We enter a different door.
It's hot.
Red hot!
Fire!
Where are we!
I don't recognize this place.
Old woman, tell me.
She doesn't answer.
Let's move back!
We're too close.
I know where we are!

We're on a volcano.
I don't understand.
Did we go back through
The Door that Destroys?

No!
Came a horrifying reply.
'Are you such a fool?
Can you not see what is happening?
Was all that I have done
Nothing of any importance'

'Now tell me, what have you just seen?'
I've seen a birth, and a volcano.
'Now tell me, what does that mean?'
The birth was the creation of a human being.
The volcano was the creation of an island.
'Very good!
Remember it well.
Now you have seen.
Now you have learned.
Now we can leave
And go through the next door.'

The weatherman says
It's hot out there. That's right.
It is cold.

The door was chained.
This is the worst door of all.
It is full of lies.

The Door that Lies

For the first time since we arrived,
The old Woman held my hand.
I looked at her.
She looked at me.
She was scared.
What is it that we will see?

I'm scared again.

At first it was dark
Now I see it is light.
Old woman's hand grew tighter.
What was coming?
I didn't want to know.

The ground is soft,
It is cold.
Up in front,
What is it?
We got closer.

A cross in the ground,
No others to be seen.
We got closer.
Another appears!
From where, I know not?
We stop.

Old woman, Why?

She trembled.

I began to tremble.
I looked at the crosses.
Words were on them.

Epos and Edda!

That's us!

Lies!

We run away to the next door
It is locked.
She pushes.
Still locked.
Fire flew from her hands.
Still locked.

LIES!

The door opens.
We run.

The weatherman says,
It is eternally hot. Don't expect to
Cool off any here.

The Door that Holds the Truth

Lies, it is all lies.
Life is a lie.
Death is a lie.
I never really realized that before.

0ld woman, is this the truth?
Did we just pass the Door that holds the Truth?

Her look was the scariest I'd ever seen.
She looked like she was getting sick.
Please don't die, I cried.

It's the Truth

'Fool,' she called me again.
'Can you not feel what is around us?
Are you that naive?
Are you that foolish?'
The room was growing larger.
Soon it was gone.
We were now in space,
In the darkest part of the universe.

Old Woman, old Woman,
Is this the truth?
Is this our destiny?

A dark and heavy voice come from her.
'QUIET CHILD, IT IS TIME YOU LEARNED.'

The truth?, I asked.
There was no answer.
Only silence.

I looked up into the dark void.
It was no longer dark.
It was bright, full His energy.

Energy more powerful than the whole universe.

As soon as it was bright, it was dark again.
It was a dark kind empty.
I was alone.
But I wasn't.
I knew it was HIM.
HE talked to me.
HE told me the truth.
I now know.

We were back in the ship.
All shiny and full of the aliens,
Who were now alive.

The sword was at the old woman's side.
It was hers.
My how it shown in the light.
My how the old woman shone...and I.

'Epos,' she called me.
'It is time that we must part.'

Why must we part?
But I knew that answer from the start.
It was her duty to protect me.
I had to learn, to learn the truth.
I was chosen, now I know.
She has to go back.
I have to stay and learn.

She took me by the hand
And we walked to the window.
Looking out across the universe,
She began to cry.

'Epos, dear Epos,' she said.
'I'll miss you so much'

I will miss you, too.
'Epos it is time for me to go.
I wish it weren't so.
But be happy
Because I m going to let you know,
You and I are the same
From head to toe.
I am Edda
You are Epos
We are the same
Just called by a different name.
I will protect the earth.
You will protect its berth
From the stars.

The weatherman says
The weather is calm and clear and the sun is shining.
It looks like the best is yet to come.