Deadhouse Gates

BOOK ONE

He swam at my feet,

Powerful arms in broad strokes

Sweeping the sand.

So I asked this man,

What seas do you swim?

And to this he answered,

'I have seen shells and the like

On this desert floor,

So I swim this land's memory

Thus honouring its past,'

Is the journey far, queried I.

'I cannot say,' he replied,

'For I shall drown long before

I am done.'

Sayings of the Fool

Thenys Bule