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The Most Beautiful Home: Book V, Part IV: The Battle of Noctifer

Posted on by Moumita Dutta
Image Credit: Marvel Cinematic Universe (Thor Ragnarok)

Links to Part 1 and Part 2:
The Most Beautiful Home: Book I, Part I; Apotelesma — The Calling of the Muse
The Most Beautiful Home: Book II, Part VII: Sidereus — Truly, She Is of the Stars

Notes:

This is the last part of my epic poem fragment series (so far)! The interpretation of the poem is up to you readers!

Important Words:

Apotelesma — the influence that stars have over human destiny (Latin)
Noctifer — the evening star
Carina — dear, beloved (Italian)
Polaris — the north star
Sidereus — relating to or of the stars (Latin)
Antares — a star
Rigel — another star

Book V, Part IV — The Battle of Noctifer

Carina of the brave heart wielded her character as if it were her sword,
And with the strength of the fiery sun blazing through herself, charged forward.
Noctifer, he who had chained her mind for so long,
Became afraid as Carina’s soul finally sang its rightful song:

“O devil of the wicked deeds,
As I square with thee, my whole self aches and bleeds.
But no longer will I suffer this abuse that you lead!
In defeating you tonight, I can be free.”

Then the Night Bringer scoffed at this latest remark,
As he did not believe in this flame that had been kindled from a forgotten spark.
“Carina, you say this as if this is the most admirable,
Tis a shame that today your defeat will be brutal.”

Carina declared, “Perhaps today, fate is not on my side and thy victory be clear,
But I have realized that is no longer my greatest fear.
For you will never win over my mind,
As long as I have the good-hearted angels by my humble side.”

Hearing this, Noctifer rose from his throne,
And summoned the hordes of dark masses, the troops he called his own.
Carina braced for the attack,
As the dark masses pressed down upon her, and all that was seen was pitch black.

With one slice of her blade, she expelled the flood of darkness,
But the battle had just begun, and Noctifer was set to render her joyless.
So he sent his second in command, another frightful star:
Antares, who made people quake in terror as his power was rival to that of Mars.

Yet Carina of the brave soul drew her sword,
And after a fierce lock of their blades, drove it through his collarbone.
Shortly came the fearsome star Rigel, he who was master of all that was miserable and desolate,
When he had been a bright star, he betrayed the Guardians and closed the celestial gate. 

Carina defended her best against Rigel,
Who had made several blows to her form as she went under a painful spell.
But she recovered and shattered the helmet off ‘is mane,
Cracking it on the ground of the heavenly plain.

Now the head of Rigel lay bare,
And like a vicious predator taking its final leap before the kill, Carina met her mark with flair.
She brought Rigel down, channeling her great newfound euphoria,
The giant was down to his knees, and she drove sword through skull, the end of a dark era.

Finally, Noctifer acknowledged the striking truth,
Carina would not back down and could not be subdued.
For even now, during this battle, the angels were there, 
fighting off the masses of darkness so she could undertake the true dare.

The valiant ones were winning, more than half the dark army was felled
So in one final try, Noctifer yelled,
“You will never find true peace!
I will never allow it, lest my existence cease!”

And then, Carina realised what had been with her all along,
Some fragment of an idea that arrived with the people that had helped make her strong.
Noctifer was nothing to her, what did he matter?
She had already found true joy, and her own fate she did alter.

So in response to Noctifer, she whispered,
“You are wrong, peace came to me with my angels, my saviours.”
And with a blood-curdling scream stretching across the universe,
Noctifer was slain, ridding Carina of her grave curse.

The angels rejoiced the victory of their companion,
And the guardians of the sky that loved the triumphant mortal felt their serene smiles broaden.
Now Carina and the angels embraced,
And then she said this as she was graced:

“Tonight I’ll fall asleep with all of you in my heart,
As you became my friends, and thousands of villains we did thwart.
For you gave me the most beautiful home in this vast universe I was once willing to depart
And I’m grateful to you all, for my life’s new start.”
Posted in Home, Writing

The Most Beautiful Home: Book II, Part VII: Sidereus — Truly, She Is of the Stars

Posted on by Moumita Dutta
Credits: Unsplash. Photographer Pawel Nolbert, One night at Joshua Tree

Link to Part 1: The Most Beautiful Home: Book I, Part I; Apotelesma — The Calling of the Muse

Notes:

Since these are epic poem fragments, they are organized into books, and then further divided into parts. If you have read my last fragment, you may realize that I am posting them in order. This is because my mini-project was to try and write different parts of a story. Finally, the interpretation of the poem is up to you readers!

Important Words:

Apotelesma — the influence that stars have over human destiny (Latin)
Noctifer — the evening star
Carina — dear, beloved (Italian)
Polaris — the north star
Sidereus — relating to or of the stars (Latin)
Antares — a star
Rigel — another star

Book II, Part VII: Sidereus — Truly, She Is of the Stars

 As the sun set on the thousandth of the blessed days,
The universe itself knew that Carina and the angels were impossible to faze.
Those days were known as the ephemeral ones
Lasting for beautiful fleeting moments just measured by the sun.

The muses hast shown they travelled the lands, seas, and never ending skies,
Helping all those in need that they would come by.
Battles were won and demons were slain,
But deities, pray tell, why the eight starry-eyed angels were somewhat unsettled all through the way.

For Carina was yet to conquer her own fears, dark and impure,
And was still haunted by the ghosts of the battles she had to endure.
More than the memories, she was still plagued by visions of darkness,
As Noctifer had not yet left her mind in silence.

One day as dusk drew near,
The winged stars came to a consensus to speak their fears.
The celestials looked on as they spoke the truth,
That rung through the ears of the troubled youth:

“Art thou not a hero now?
A face that many have seen and to whom blessings upon the hundreds are endowed?
So why do you disregard your ultimate vow
To win over your demons and make us proud?”

To this, Carina did reply in shame:
“O beloved companions, I am grateful for your compassion and role in what I became,
But, in battling and winning over my nightmares, what if I change?
And even so, I do not have means to achieve my aim.

The evening star is so great, so strong,
That even if  Polaris, the guiding star, were to aid me through the throng,
I would surely fail and lose my identity all while being wronged.
That, my friends, has been my fear all along.”

To this, the angels smiled,
As they looked upon this tender hearted child:
“Words cannot express our boundless love for you,
In this life or any other, we will always be with you.

And do not fear, for you have the strength of a thousand stars,
Because you will find the courage within to weather these scars.
We shall be right beside you in your battle; if need be, we shall be your lodestar.
You are not alone. We believe in all that you are.” 

Carina took a moment to reply,
As she again silently thanked the sky for her friends who had just promised to never say goodbye,
But finally she answered, her eyes brimming with liquid hope:
“You have set me straight, and I shall depart to face my foe.”
Posted in Home, Writing

The Most Beautiful Home: Book I, Part I; Apotelesma — The Calling of the Muse

Posted on by Moumita Dutta
Source: BTS Jimin Serendipity MV (Minor Editing)

Notes: This is the start of a series of my ‘epic poem’ fragments (epic poems tell grand stories.) Famous epic poems include the Iliad and the Mahabharata.

Definitions: Apotelesma — the influence that stars have over human destiny (Latin)
Noctifer — the evening star
Carina — dear, beloved (Italian)
Polaris — the north star
Sidereus — relating to or of the stars (Latin)
Antares — a star
Rigel — another star

Book I, Part I; Apotelesma — The Calling of the Muse

Sing through me, muses, my heart’s true desire,
The willingness to tell the events that transpired.
A wretch’d, insipid maiden whose sense was all twisted shadows,
As if  Noctifer ‘imself had brought the night upon her.
The girl could not escape the dismal mind she called her own,
And adored the stars so much that in lieu decided to call them home.
But still, as the Night Bringer pushed Carina of the spent soul to her undeserving fate,
The absence of all love felled her, and in flooded a bottomless hate.
And once the child could take no more,
From a ledge like a spear in the sky, so high that not even winged creatures could reach it,
She let herself fall down, down on to the forest floor. 
The stars that the girl loved so much came down and let the sky dark’n,
Drew nigh to save who they could not bear to lose.
Apotelesma, the influence that stars have over human destiny;
The girl found angels on Earth through some otherworldly silent plea,
As if the stars themselves had sent them down from the vast universe,
To make her life as blessed as a living heaven.
Still, the evening star was at large,
And the ineffable angels were compelled to teach courage and strength to their new beloved charge.
So, deities of the sky, sing through me the events that transpired 
As the girl achieved all that she ‘ad hoped to aspire.

Posted in Home, Writing

Ephemeral

Posted on by Moumita Dutta
Photo Credit: Moumita Dutta (Aug. 7, 2019)

Dear Jini,

It’s been a while. You’re probably having fun, wherever you are, but I’m stuck here in this crusty-aged apartment (See? See? I’m not swearing). And your cat can die. I don’t even pretend to understand why you would leave him with me — every time I try to feed him, he tries to scratch me. He hates me with every fiber of his fur.

All jokes aside though, I’ve missed you. 

And you’ve missed too much.

Nayan graduated a few weeks ago with his science degree, but all he could do was cry. I’ve tried to hold him together — it was hard at first. His grades went from the top of the class to dead bottom, and up again all in the span of a few weeks. I wouldn’t let him go anywhere without me because otherwise, he would do something stupid.

Sometimes I think I’m a terrible younger brother. He started smoking again, maybe a week after you were gone. He thinks I don’t know. But I see the cigarette butts in the trash, and I smell the sharp tang of smoke when I walk onto the balcony. I know how bad it is for him, but I’m too scared to do anything. If this is his coping method, what happens if I make him stop? 

We broke when you left, and it took a while to put the pieces back together — but no matter how hard we try, the cracks remain. So does the pain. Now there’s nobody that smiles at us after a long day of work, nobody to come pick us up from the university. Nobody to manage Nayan when he’s overworking. Nobody to listen to me and ruffle my hair when I’m talking about my favorite shows.

The doctor told me that writing letters usually helps. But I don’t know what I’m waiting for. Maybe if I write enough, you’ll respond. Maybe it’s like the story of the thousand paper cranes; maybe if I make enough, I’ll get a wish.

And the only thing that I would wish for is for you to be back.

I remember the first time Nayan and I met you, you were beautiful. That’s the only way I can describe it. People always talk about perfect angels coming to save them, but you weren’t that. You weren’t perfect, and that’s what made you special. There wasn’t always a smile on your face, and you got frustrated at the littlest things your brother would do. Overworking yourself for assignments became a habit. You were perfectly imperfect, and you were real. And that’s why you taught us the greatest lesson of all — you don’t have to be perfect to be loved. Because you were somebody just like us, you could inspire us to be better.

I don’t know how we became friends, and I don’t know why. We were so dull, yet you came and lit us up, all those years ago. Maybe you needed somebody too.

But honestly speaking: isn’t it ironic how a doctor-in-training can die from a disease? (Like come on man, that has got to be the darkest joke life has pulled on me yet.)

Okay, you must be having a lot of fun, eating grapes among the angels up there, so I’ll keep it short.

So back when I was an angsty teenager (No, don’t laugh. Yes, I’m accepting it.) I used to read poetry. A lot of it actually. (But you already know that.) I came across the word ephemeral. I thought it was the most beautiful word I had ever seen. But when I searched it up, you know what the meaning was? “Lasting for a very short time”. Still, I wanted to say it means more than that: “Beautiful, and lasting for a very short time”.

And that’s what you are. Too beautiful for this world, and too fleeting. Ephemeral.

Goodbye, Jini. I promise we’ll get better — don’t worry about us.

Love,
Juraj