Of all things, in the least expected place, you get beauty.

I've been testing out a new game introduced to me by my sister. It's called Evony and it's pretty surprising.

Am sure you've seen the ads online.... bosomy wenches saying "your kingdom awaits you, my lord". But when you log on with your free account, there are no wenches. Nothing even remotely female. Interestingly absent, and yet, most welcome.

The name of the game is to start out with a hovel-like village, upgrade, farm and mine resources, build an army, and then go on the march... find some poor township and colonise. Very much like Age of Empires, which I use to play and love.

The interesting thing is that you build slowly. There are no cheat sheets, and when someone attacks, you're actually given about 8 hours to prepare (and panic). You then call for help with your alliance members. If you're lucky, someone sends you troops to bolster your city, or resources to aid your citizens.

But that's just the summary. lol. The game is extremely convoluted for an online MMORPG-thingie and people take it *seriously*. I've been quietly spending time in my alliance chat channel, slowly building my troops and upgrading my technologies. Serious Players who think nothing of sending troops in excess of 30K. :o (Bloody hell. Unheard of. lol.) I'm hoping to also learn something from my allience's more experienced players, but at the same time I am preparing to die any day. *gulp*

But I digress.

This one guy gets online and finds himself alone. He starts talking to himself and I continue to lurk. As he rambles to himself, I have the urge to chat with him as well, even though I'm a complete noob to this thing. Quite unexpectedly, all of a sudden, he starts quoting from memory :


[Alliance]<12:44>[ftw66]: benneath the stars is the moon
[Alliance]<12:44>[ftw66]: benneath the sky we have you
[Alliance]<12:44>[ftw66]: benneath the willow beyond the sea
[Alliance]<12:45>[ftw66]: you find me
[Alliance]<12:45>[ftw66]: benneatme you have the land
[Alliance]<12:45>[ftw66]: yet the life has withered to naught but sand
[Alliance]<12:46>[ftw66]: if only god would lend a hand
[Alliance]<12:47>[ftw66]: a whisper of a dream is the fate of this world
[Alliance]<12:48>[ftw66]: shall it be splended to watch it crumble
[Alliance]<12:48>[ftw66]: to loose ones mind is only fair
[Alliance]<12:49>[ftw66]: as the dream you had rises to become air
[Alliance]<12:49>[ftw66]: forwarned you were of days to pass
[Alliance]<12:50>[ftw66]: yet it fell upon def ears and it didnt last
[Alliance]<12:51>[ftw66]: so benneath in the shadows ill wait
[Alliance]<12:51>[ftw66]: pretty soon youll be too late


If you disreagrd all the typos, you'd find something quite poetic under all that :) I am surprised, and for some reason, feeling quite touched. I have witnessed someone's vulnerable side and for some reason I feel the words resonate. I want to send him a message and tell him how nice that was. Yet, I am loathe to intrude on someone's quiet time - he truly believes there is no one else online.


What a wonderful surprise!


PS I am most sure that poem is from wherewhere... if anyone can identify it, I would be grateful. Thank you.

PPSS - I tried searching for the lines/stanzas and couldn't find any author to this. Could it truly be an original? :o