The Stargazer
While listening to the two songs by Rainbow,
an English band of the 70’s, it felt like the story narrated in the lyrics of
the songs actually started playing in front of my closed eyes – I found myself
being there, seeing it as it happened. These lyrics are presented here like
snips of a poem, and then elaborated to build the narration, scene by scene,
event by event. It starts like this:
High
noon, oh I'd sell my soul for water
Nine
years worth of breakin' my back
That was the cry of despair of a slave, one of
a large crowd, suffering, building a tower for his master, a wizard, whom they see in their dreams, their expectation, one day gliding away through the sky
There's
no sun in the shadow of the wizard
See
how he glides, why he's lighter than air
Oh
I see his face
They sigh the harsh environment and the
inhuman condition which they are in: toiling, building a stone tower the
wizard would eventually climb and fly off from.
We
build a tower of stone
With
our flesh and bone
Just
to see him fly
Legend has it that this is in very ancient
Egypt, where a great wizard had such powers that he could control the weather,
regenerate lost limbs, and make dead corpses rise up, walk, and obey him. But
there was one thing he couldn’t do – to fly. This became such an obsession for
him that he came to the conclusion that if he had a tower at his disposal, high
enough to reach the sky, he could climb to its top and fly. He believed he
could reach the Gods if he wanted to.
His wizardly powers made him nearly
as powerful as the king himself, whom he sought permission to, to gather a large
workforce of slaves to the task of constructing the tower. He was duly given
the nod. For controlling the slaves, the wizard re-animated the buried dead, and armed
them with whips. The slaves were put to work. In spite of all the misery, the
slaves kept on working, no matter how harsh the conditions were. And many had died.
In
the heat and the rain
With
whips and chains
To
see him fly
So
many die
Most who died, died of exhaustion, while some
died in the sand storms – the storms that might have been sent by the ‘God of storm’*, as a mercy killing.
No one seemed to want to rebel against the wizard. Maybe they know they do not
have a chance against his army of walking corpses.. the zombies. Or maybe he
was able to take away their will power by sheer sorcery.
In spite of all the misery,
they all had one last hope: they believed that once the tower is complete,
their master, the wizard, would fly away, and reach the stars, and be one among
the stars. In those days they believed that the stars were the souls of their ancestors. They hoped that when he thus joins their
ancestors, they will be free forever, free to leave. They believed in it.
Where
is your star?
Is
it far, is it far, is it far?
When
do we leave?
I
believe, yes, I believe
Finally the day has arrived. The tower is
nearly complete, and the work force is putting the final finishes to it – they
are not only eager to see him fly, but also that it will give them their much
dreamt freedom. They all now have just one thing in mind: assist the wizard to
fly.
Hot
wind, moving fast across the desert
We
feel that our time has arrived
The
world spins, while we put his dream together
A
tower of stone to take him straight to the sky
Oh,
I see his face!
Finally the time, it is: the wizard is
quickly climbing up all the way to the top. A very tall tower. He has to go all
the way up. Eagerly waiting below is the large crowd of slaves.. waiting for
that moment – all eyes upon him, disappearing into the height. Now they hardly
see him standing at the top, preparing for the dive, and then up should he go.
All
eyes see the figure of the wizard
As
he climbs to the top of the world
No
sound, as he falls instead of rising
Time
standing still, then there's blood on the sand
Oh,
I see his face!
Oh Gods! He has not flown.. but has fallen
all the way down, like a stone.. has plunged into the sand.. the ground below.
They held their breadth in total shock. The wizard still lying with his face on the sand. They see the sand turning red –
his blood is on the sand. It seemed the world has gone silent, with the wizard.
After
the brief silence, they notice a thud from behind. It’s one of the soldier
falling.. being devoid of the wizard’s magical spell which re-animated them.
While most eyes are still gazing the blood around their master, losing hope,
finding it difficult to accept that they have lost their purpose, more and more
thuds are heard. One after another the soldiers – the re-animated corpses – are
all falling.. dead again.
They
now realise that the much yearned freedom they expected on his rising to the
stars, now they are starting to experience by his death. Roars of that feeling wash through the slave crowd.
Time
is standing still
He
gave back my will
Ooh
ooh ooh ooh
Going
home
I'm
going home
They now look at themselves.. the wretched
state they are in. They look at the tower, decades of their toil... their sweat
and blood. They see there, behind the tower.. a rainbow rising – the heavenly
sign of their freedom imminent.
Look
at my flesh and bone
Now,
look, look, look, look
I
see a rainbow rising
Look
there, on the horizon
And
I'm coming home, coming home, coming home
But now, oh gosh! They face the dilemma of
their lives. They realise the truth about themselves.. reminded of what they
have forgotten: long long back.. in their
days of childhood.. They were with their parents,
at their home, playing in there in the village; the wizard had kidnapped them young
– at a very young age – and had them raised away from their parents. Once they
have passed their teens, they were put to work on the tower. That’s the story
of each one of them. Now they don’t know where they came from... where they
belong... each one of them... their
house... their parents... nothing. This is the only place they have known, but
it’s not home. They know. But now where will they go?
We
built a tower of stone
With
our flesh and bone
Just
to see him fly
Don't
know why
Now
where do we go?
The very thought aches their heart. They cried and cried. They felt
their eyes are bleeding. They were to leave the only home they knew
My
eyes are bleeding
And
my heart is leaving here
A
place called home
A
place called home
Now he – the one slave, through whose eyes
the story is unraveling to us – will have to use his instincts to get back to
his home he knows not. May be the ‘Goddess of protection’*, whose magic spells
are always a help for people in need, show him his way back to his home.
Take
me back, take me back
Back
to my home ooh, ooh, ooh
Looking behind him, at the tower.. what a
deserted place it seems now.. looking back at his fate, and what all he had
gone through. Can’t believe at last he is free. Can’t believe the wizard is
dead. All the past appears to be just a dream – he is recollecting all these as
he is leaving the place. All other slaves have left.
Can't
forget his face
What
a lonely place
Has
he really let us flow
All
my life it seems
Just
a crazy dream
Reaching
for somebody's star
Can't
believe it all
Did
he really fall?
He is walking away from the lonely place. And
now doesn’t know what to do... where to go. But there’s something within him
that’s showing him the way. Yes someone’s guiding his instincts. The Goddess is
leading him on his way back. He is being shown the way back to his home, of
which he has but only a faint recollection. A shining star, a light in the
black, beckons him.
Something's
calling me back
It's
a light in the black
Am
I ready to go?
I'm
coming home
As he has tread a long way on the path, his
way back, he starts feeling the familiarity: the wind, the scenery, the
surroundings -- how much was still retained in his memory, but never realised.
Breathed
the air before
Heard
the thunder roar
Never
knew it was for me
Always
looking down
Lost
but never found
Eyes
to look but not to see
The soul of the dead wizard, which by now
must have turned into a star, one among his ancestors, should be somewhere out
there in the sky, in obscurity among the million unnoticed stars. The slave is
playing stargazer. May the Goddess, the bright star Sirius, the heavenly
representation of the Goddess herself, a ‘light in the black’, as it appears to
him, guide him all the way home.
Something's
calling me back
Like
a light in the black
Yes,
I'm ready to go
I'm
coming home
Look
to the sky
There
in the sky
I
see a star
And that’s the story. You may search the net
to find the names of the Gods described, and marked ‘*’.
The story is based on
the lyrics of the songs “Stargazer” and “Light in the Black” by the Heavy Metal
band Rainbow, released in 1976 (both available on Youtube). The details of the
story, missing in the lyrics, were taken from an archaeological material excavated
in Egypt (belonging to its pre-dynastic era), since then kept secret by the US
intelligence serves, and de-classified only in 1995. It’s still a mystery how
Ronnie James Dio, the lyricist of the songs, got his hands on this piece of
text way back in 1976. And by the way, the name of the wizard, as per the
secret Egyptian document, was Eppa.
Rahul Leslie
Jan 2018
Resources:
My technical write-up's
My non-technical
write-up's
My other write-up's
Sir,
ReplyDeleteYour post is unique , and it evokes curiosity.