In the town there was a crown
And the man who wore it
Decreed that all should scrape and bow
When e'er they saw it
Around his neck a golden chain
Upon it hung the Stone of State
His regal power absolute
His the right to dominate
In the town there was a throne
And he that sat thereon
Reserved the right to rule despite
The weight of the unknown
The weight of the unknown
Bore most heavily upon
The one that sat upon the throne
That most awful regal one
The king decreed discovery
Of the hid foundation
The arcane philosophy
That underpins creation
That never may there come to be
In that or any nation
One more erudite than he
In comprehension of causation
The king commissioned a machine
Styled the Grand Chronologer
That the future may be seen
By the Court Technologer
The Grand Chronologer
Behold the Court Technologer
His books machines and tools
His calipers and quadrants
His scribers and his rules
All contrived most cunningly
None more fastidious than he
He laboured with precision
With scarce an intermission
'Behold the Grand Chronologer
Wheel and gear and Golden Winder
Orbits tangents radians sines
Cogs and hands, keys and splines
The quintessentiality
Defining all reality ...
Behold my lord the ease with which
The future now may be discerned'
With a sniff and bow and twitch
To the great machine he turned
As it gravely whirred and spun
The disk of the moon covered the sun
Comets appeared and seasons and years
We're predicted and counted by elegant gears
Arcane the prestidigitation
Algebraic the application
At the Gates
Grim tidings spread throughout the town
Invaders from the farthest shore
Cast a shadow 'cross the land
The evil threat of war
A herald barked the proclamation
A silent crowd, broad and great
With a morbid fascination
Gathered for to learn their fate
'Our enemy is at the gates
A curse on those who will not fight'
The King addressed the restless crowd
Gathered in the night
'I declare these terms for peace
Nothing less than slavery'
The crowd let out an angry shout
And the King had won the day
The King now sat in conference
With the Court Technologer
Configuring the Panel Stops
On the Great Chronologer
Initiation initiated
The King's frustration soon frustrated
The Propitious Date was dated
Fate of the Kingdom now was fated
The Enemy Ambassador
Narrowly escaping murder
Dishonoured in despite of law
With word of almost certain war
Hurries from the angry town
As sudden rain comes teeming down
In his hand The Letter
Terms, a rendezvous
A date on which to parley
'Neath the Ancient Yew
The Parley
The King at the head of his forces
Draws near to the Parley Place
In the centre of The Forest
A knowing smile upon his face
Waiting in The Clearing
Beneath the Ancient Yew
(At the time determined
The time to die or do
That the Grand Chronologer
Selected as it marked the card)
He spies his foe the Crystal Queen
Surrounded by her Bodyguard
The King and Queen are eye to eye
He turns and glances to the sky
A shadow passes 'cross the sun
Foretold Eclipse has now begun
He signals to his Hidden Men
Hidden days before, and then
Swords in hand - their edges keen
They fall upon the Crystal Queen
Shocked by darkness unforeseen
Her Bodyguard forsakes the Queen
They turn to run and do not fight
Throw down their swords and take to flight
The King allows them on their way
He hunts now for a different prey
The object of his Covert Scheme
The capture of the Crystal Queen
Treason
The Crystal Queen is fallen
Imprisoned in despair
An iron cage affords no rest
No comfort for the fair
The King would have her dead and gone
And yet he has a care
To discover what he may
Before she dance on air
The Court Technologer is sent
To take the Queen's interrogation
The King on other work is bent
Best left to imagination
Morning noon and night they meet
The Queen and her Inquisitor
Days pass by and he becomes
More than just a visitor
Of all his fears the greatest one
That it might be known and seen
That his heart is lost and gone
And he loves the Queen
Meantime the King sought for himself
Another source of information
And taught himself the secrets of
Mechanical Prognostication
He set the Panel Stops and then
Waited for the Great Machine
To tell him where and tell him when
He might destroy the force of the Queen
The King called the Technologer
They met at the Chronologer
It displayed a time and date
As if it read the Book of Fate
As though it heard from Fate's own mouth
It displayed the West and South
It knew when to strike the blow
It told the King where he must go
The Technologer turned white
The King discerned his sorry plight
'Guards, arrest this Vile Traitor'
Shouts the King, and moments later
Technologer in iron cage
The King before him spitting rage
'You dare to choose to serve another
Rot and die then with your lover'
The King stormed out of the stony cell
Two cages sat in the dark and grime
The Queen and Technologer as well
Wept, held hands and bided their time
The Campaign
The King rode forth to Conquest
Ever close at hand
Prediction of The Chronologer
As he passed to a foreign land
The King and his weary band of men
Driven by obsessive wrath
Long now since they ventured forth
Strange the land and long the path
The Compass was consulted
The Date and Day drew nigh at last
The King pitched tent and waited
And the die was cast
A misty mass of warriors
Within the gloom without The Glen
Draws near the King and followers
Draws ever near and then
They part and ope' a corridor
For their Youthful Laird
He throws a Gauntlet to the ground
In hand a weapon bared
Laird and King now locked within
Trial by Lethal Combat
Their soldiers - speechless witnessing
Challenger & Autocrat
They thrust and parried
Lunged and harried
Ever circulating
Weapons flashed
Sparked and crashed
Shreiking grinding grating
On the King's Ignoble Sword
Hidden poison waiting
First Blood to the Challenger!
A Strike not deep nor broad
Yet see the King reaching in
To parry with his sword
It barely nicks the flawless cheek
Of the Youthful Laird
But blood drains from his face and heart
A heavy gasp is heard
The Youthful Laird sinks to his knees
And raises Lamentation
The King retires a pace or two
Awaiting life's cessation
'Hear my story stars above
Hear my tale you earth
Hear a tale of evil deeds
Hear a tale of Noble Birth
Hear how I was dispossessed
Mark this tragic scene
The murder of the noblest
The Prince of the Crystal Queen
Where my Father here to fight
Would but that he had not been killed
Then would there be an end to night
And evil would be stilled
Should any doubt my Royal Right
Should any doubt my fate
Let them look but once upon
The One True Stone of State'
The Youthful Laird fell back upon
The heather, holding fastly on
To a stone strung from a cord
The soldiers of the gathered horde
Stepped closer and the King's most trusted
Chieftan, with an air disgusted
Took stone and made examination
Then raised excited Proclamation
'The Stone of State this is this is
I saw it in my far-off youth
I see it once again and I
Give my testament of truth ...
The stone worn by our Upstart King
Worn ever 'neath his stinking vest
Never have I seen that thing
Hidden next' his coward chest ...
Yet I do swear and aver
That what I say is true
The Stone of State is what I hold
I show it now to all of you'
The Aged Chief held up the stone
The King's own troop were restive grown
They turned to challenge him alone
To no avail - the King had flown
Vendetta
Destroy the Machine
Dispose of the Queen
Galloping hoofbeats
Commanded the King
Technologer too
Must be made to pay
The hoofbeats insisted
As night turned to day
Propitious the Day
Picked by The Machine
Propitious for someone
Just not for him
His rage so intense
It would not depart
Thirst for revenge
Had swallowed his heart
Revelation
'When a task is vital
One does not delegate'
Spat The King most darkly
Arranging the fate
Of Queen and Technologer
At the end of a rope
Anticipating naught but doom
The two of them bereft of hope
But suddenly a rush of men
Assails the execution hall
At their head the Youthful Laird
Who did not die at all
(The Ancient Grizzled Warrior
Who identified the stone
Administered an antidote
That none but he had known
Ever kept to hand
In case of Royal Accident
Now applied it saves us from
Embarrasing predicament)
The Laird bows low before his Queen
Before his Mother too
She graciously bids him to stand
Invites him now to view
The face of the Technologer
The boy turns white once more
And kneels before his father
On the stony floor
He bows his head and offers
The One True Stone of State
The Crystal King takes it from him
And, standing next' his mate
Lifts up his son the Crystal Prince
And all there - bar the Upstart King
Affirm their humble loyalty
With oaths and tears and rejoicing
Thus the rule of the Upstart King
Ended many years ago
If you doubt my true account
Then I bid you go
See the ruined building
Chronologer disused within
Abandoned now its job is done
The Conquest of the Upstart King
The Derelict
I visited the broken shell
Chronolger hid deep within
And thought I heard a stirring
Of something softly spinning
An air of unquiet slumbering
Of something fell beginning
As though the episodes of yore
Upon dark winds were winging ...
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