From RHAZLWD@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDUTue Mar 28 14:11:51 1995
Date: Tue, 28 Mar 1995 09:49:33 -0600 (CST)
From: Richard Hazlewood <RHAZLWD@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU>
To: Creative Babylon5 <babylon5-creative@netcom.com>
Subject: Londo Poem

Hi All,

I am posting this poem here, with the author's permission, so that it can 
be enjoyed by all and archived.

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Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.tv.babylon5
From: jtriplett@loyola.edu (Sauron)
Date: 27 Mar 1995 13:41 EST

I wrote a fun poem...it rips-off S.T. Coleridge's
"Xanadu: or, Visions in a Dream."
Enjoy!

The *(#) are for references at the end...not part of the poem.

"Londo Molari: or, a Vision of a Hand"*(1)

In Za'ha-dum did the Ambassador
   A shadowy lifeless-home decree:
Where the Rim, unexplored, stole
Silently towards the darkness; whole
   Only to a degree.
So thrice ten miles of desert ground
With stone walls and voiceless echoes all around:
And here where there should be no life *(2)
There is commotion hidden in the shadows you see;
And here were ancient civilizations filled with strife,
Enclosing all signs of any life.
Wait! that horrible fiery chasm which filled
The sky with a darkness foreboding! *(3)
A demonic place! as dark and distilled
As the finest wines from glasses filled
By the Emperor himself in self-loathing! *(4)
Erupting from the chasm, with intentions grim,
As though the universe itself grew dim,
A legendary shadow was loosed,
>From whose sentence *(5) the universe was noosed
In a trap meant for the Minbari,
Or for perhaps Humans, Narn and Lumati: *(6)
And from these flailing rocks of that dome
Arose the center *(7) of that decrepit home.
Several jumpgates traveled with astrophysical motion
Through system and galaxy the Rim stole
Silently towards the darkness as a whole,
And reduced to nothingness next to a living ocean: *(8)
And in the confusion Molari heard from far
The technomage's voice prophesying war! *(9)

   The shadow of the home so dread
   Expanded to engulf the universe;
   There was heard echoes from the dead
   Which seemed never to disperse.
Effect being the stabbing of a knife,
The shadowy lifeless-home had harbored life!
   A creature with a song
   Humming to understand the music:
   It was a great Vorlon,
   And the universe he played upon,
   Mourning of that encounter. *(10)
   Could I remember what he said
   About Understanding and Immortal Dread,
   To such a hungry appetite would feed,
That with such language I could know,
Londo has built his home in his past, *(11)
That shadowy home! that harbored life!
And all who know him will hate him fast,
And all will fear, Treachery! Deceit!
His funny hair, his clothes so neat!
Go near him not, you see,
Best to run away from disasters dread,
For he on Power and Fear hath fed,
And drunk the juice of Immortality. *(12)

*(1) = Elric the technomage said that he saw a vision of
       a hand, Molari's: a foreboding vision that Molari's
       reach will extend far and his victims will cry out
       his name from every corner of the universe.
*(2) = G'kar mentioned this place "where there should be no life"
*(3) = Referring to Mount Doom of LoTR legend...not intended as
       to mean anything about Tolkein being in B-5, just an
       appropriate allusion.
*(4) = Referring to a time when Molari is Emperor(in his vision).
       Remembering the time when he had a drink with Garibaldi and
       his conversation was something like:'It is good to have
       friends, is it not Garibaldi, even if only for a little while.'
*(5) = As in a death sentence.
*(6) = Is this a plot for revenge against one race or all races...
       The names mentioned and positions are not intentional(although
       I meant to have at least the Minbari and Humans).
*(7) = Base or focal-point.
*(8) = On a factual painting, unexplored space would be dead
       compared to explored space where we know there is life.
*(9) = Elric
*(10)= Supposedly, in this poem's view, the first encounter
       of the Vorlons and the Shadows began with the Vorlons
       being the fools. 
*(11)= He is one of the Centauri who remember the glory days
       when the Centuari were a powerful race.
*(12)= Being in such a position will make him immortal in
       poems and songs, etc...
       However, there is discussion on him knowing a little
       more about DeathWalker's Immortality that we thought.

*********************************************************************
**Sauron......Looking for Stolen Ring..............................**
**............Reward: Immortality..................................**
**............If Found: Please contact........ jtriplett@loyola.edu**
*********************************************************************
**Look forward to the day when you have cleansed the universe of   **
**your enemy and carved their bones into flutes for your children  **
**to play - Ambassador G'kar, Babylon-5                            **
*********************************************************************

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Virtually Yours,

Richard Hazlewood
RHAZLWD@KUHUB.CC.UKANS.EDU

			Do not assume malice
			when stupidity will suffice.
				-Flame War Comment