The SkyPath Crusade

The Ballad of Ron Paul: Original Lyrics

schildan10 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:39:16 +0000

The Ballad of Ron Paul: original lyrics by my brother

schildan10 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:34:02 +0000

The Ballad of Ron Paul: Brand New Lyrics

schildan10 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:26:55 +0000

The Ballad of Ron Paul: Original words by my brother

schildan10 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:25:03 +0000

The Ballad of Ron Paul: Original Song By my brother

schildan10 — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 20:17:30 +0000

Welcome to the SkyPath Crusade; a history of space travel circa 1100 AD

schildan10 — Sun, 31 May 2009 03:36:39 +0000

Welcome weary runner of the world’s race. These are the chronicles of the SkyPath Crusade. You are encouraged to stay and read the tale, but consider yourself warned. The story, once told, will haunt you forever.

This epic poem is 20,023 words, 39 chapters, 86 pages, 3,424 lines, and approx. 1700 rhyming pairs long.

The entire account is now posted in chronological order for your convenience. It begins with the following post.

Prologue

schildan10 — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 11:16:56 +0000

The SkyPath Crusade

A Science Fiction Epic Poem

Prologue

Oh, those were the days when boys were men

One thousand years ago

When the grass was green and the cows were clean

And the mountains filled with snow

When able knights rode back and forth

Across Earth’s dusty face

And the very best who passed a test

Went straight to outer space

Their ships were built from bygone days

With masts and sails so white

They knew no fear, they left our sphere

For passage through the night

On ether streams they sallied forth

Across the heavens’ breadth

On cratered moons and Martian dunes

To die a distant death

They fought with kings and cyber lords

When ancient worlds ran dry

With watchful sights on meteorites

They sparred across the sky

They learned to hide in comet dust

While fleeing from the fray

The only law within the jaw

Of half the Milky Way

But his’try now has passed them by

For very few returned

And tales told grew very old

While manuscripts were burned

But if our modern probes can spy

Their castles still on Mars

We’ll then be sure we never were

The first ones to the stars

Chapter One: Scottish Homecoming

schildan10 — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 08:02:14 +0000

The SkyPath Crusade

A Science Fiction Epic Poem

Chapter One

The moonlight in the silver sky

Shone down the Scottish glen

When Alfred on his loyal steed

Came trotting home again

A giant hunk whose gnarled trunk

Had drunk the dregs of life,

Had now come back to face the flack

For parting with his wife

Her face was tough as iron bars

Her hair was free but gray

The strands came down behind her frown

And scared his smile away

Her dewy brow was ever now

Like ivy near her eye

The gleam of hope had left the slope

That ran her tear-drops dry

“My gentle dove I’m dreaming of,

I’ve missed you all these years”

She answered him in a voice more grim

“I’ve kept the time with tears

Each night you lack to come right back

I’ve slept with hollow dreams

Our ghostly bed has often bred

The sleep of midnight screams”

“I know,” he said: “I know although

My soul just had to leave

My heart as well has tasted hell

Without your arms to cleave

But now I’m here, through wind and fear,

Such slaughter I’ve survived

The last of twenty Island men,

The only one alive”

“Of course,” she said, “I knew you’d be,”

When others’ luck ran out

You always were the kind of cur

To turn the odds about

I did not think that you would fall

And yet I can’t deny

I’d hoped you’d come home sooner though

It meant you had to die”

“But now you’re here so drink your beer

And soak your wounds in mud

In half a week your sword will squeak

From rust and want of blood

You’ll soon be gone when trumpet sounds

Re-echo through the glen

You’ll take that battleaxe of yours

And hit the road again.”

And thus she said and so he did

And this became a fact

He bargained with an Englishman

And entered in a pact

For brightest gold his arm was sold

He left one afternoon

That’s how she found her husband bound

For passage to the moon

Chapter Two: The Klaron Invasion

schildan10 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:05:52 +0000

The SkyPath Crusade

A Science Fiction Epic Poem

Chapter Two

Across the void of open space

The dreaded Klarons came

The Persian moons of Jupiter

Were easy worlds to tame

The golden ring of Persia’s king

Was mounted on a clip

Above the console on the bridge

Of Jarga’s mothership

The aliens had skins of green

Their eyes were scarlet red

The only noses on their face

Were holes in their head

The king himself was something else

A beast beyond compare

Whose love for war compelled him more

To spread it ev’ry where

The Klaron Lord was not adored

But what else could be done?

The point was moot; he took their loot

And then he had his fun

This nomad race from outerspace

Was wicked at the seam

And yet for such they could not touch

The ancient ether stream

These paths that ran from planet Earth

Were built by men of skill

Whose ancient ways had seen their days

Whose works persisted still

The magic web would never ebb

While justice had its hold

No pulsing gun could catch the son

Who surfed the magic road

But since the moons of Jupiter

Had quickly all been sacked

The other worlds of humankind

Were soon to be attacked

The Klaron cruisers grew their fleet

With captured Persian ships

Whose human crewman now enslaved

Would serve on other trips

And so the fight would soon ignite

Each orbit of the sun

The worlds at rest would face a test

For keeping what they won

Their stupid wars and petty sores

Would never make them strong

The only way to save the day

Was learn to get along

Chapter Three: Pirate Jim

schildan10 — Fri, 23 Nov 2007 09:03:44 +0000

The SkyPath Crusade

A Science Fiction Epic Poem

Chapter Three

Beyond the moon called Ganymede

A human vessel lurked

Her decks were filled with pirate scum

Ill-fed and overworked

For ever since the Klarons came

Their catchings had been slim

Their captain was an ol’ sky dog

Whose name was One-Eyed Jim

Now Jim was not the kind of thief

Who set his victims free

For ev’ry five he kept alive

He slaughtered ninety-three

He had a sport of making port

While Jupiter was nigh

He’d force each rank to walk the plank

Above the planet’s eye

But now he could not catch his fill

Since Persian ships were rare

And Klaron cruisers fully gunned

Were flying ev’ry where

The quickest way to capture prey

Was jump from stream to stream

But if somehow he tried it now

They’d catch him in-between

For seven months he stayed upstream

‘Till most his food ran out

And half his fold was in the hold

With sickness, chills, and gout

He yelled and swore the Klaron war

Was wicked at the brim:

How dare they face a peaceful race

Whose loot belonged to him?

He sat and stewed, He spat and chewed,

He snarled at his mate

He ground his knuckles in the wood

And cursed his sorry fate

Until one day his temper turned

And put him back on track

He then began to make a plan

To get the Klarons back

He made his servants clock the ship

To see how fast she flew

He mounted scopes above the ropes

To give him better view

He had them test the catapults

And hone the gears with care

He told his mate to calibrate

Their windings to a hair

And while these changes all took place

His brains convulsed inside

He sent his scouts on all the routes

And half their number died

He did not care, he knew that there

We’re cruisers there for sure

The time was nigh when he would try

What none had tried before