The world was dying
and they must flee
Or they should’ve died with it too.
The cock crowed
on the final morn
And all gathered in to hear
The words of the One
The Magician Mighty
Who had created their escape
to a foreign land.
“Hark, hark,” cried the One
“For I have prepared the gate.”
“But you must give heed and
with wisdom consider
which of the two entrances to take.”
“Both lead to the same land
Both let only you through
(All your prized possessions must stay.)
But the gateway you choose
will forever decide
your fate in this new
unknown place.
“One way is of Safety and Preservation
allowing you to enter the new land as
stone.
You shall not erode
nor corrupt nor be changed
and forever be protected
and the same.
But neither shall ye have the power to move
nor to act nor to love nor to hate
nor to live nor to die
nor to work nor to play
But shall be preserved and ever unchanged.
“The second gateway is of Choice
entering the new world as people with
with flesh and blood that dies.
You shall live and love as you do here
grow old and feel the sickness of age
laugh, cry, smile, sigh
know pain and comfort and sacrifice.
“But what you gain in freedom
you lose in assurance
Assurance that when Our World is
reborn you will return
unharmed.
So a voice of warning I raise unto all who
choose the second gate:
You shall
Forever
Be
Changed.”
The One tipped his hat,
leapt from the stand and said,
“I for one should choose number two.”
And walked through the crowd
with his head held high
And vanished through the arch called
Choice.
Then the crowds of men, dwarfs, and elfs
Coursed forward and through
the gateway of their
Choice.
A third wanted safety
The rest wanted freedom
No matter the dangers that came
They entered the new world
some as stone, some as men
And waited for Their World to
Resurrect.
Years, decades, millenniums passed
And still no word from the magician’s orb
Those of the stone lived
On and on
And watched the strange ages pass by.
While those of flesh
Lived and died
Loved laughed and grew
Their children the same
And their grandchildren too
Until seven thousand generations
had passed away.
And then without warning
the magician’s orb glowed
“Our world has been reborn!” it cried.
“And this one shall soon die
the stars and the moon and the stones.
But ye of the flesh –
both living and dead – can be saved.
For two gateways connect this world
with Our New
They are called Preservation and Choice.”
– Esther Davis