Imperial Triptych: The Twisted Myth

poem 6 from The Ancient Elm

One day,
while hunting for sport,
a strange leaf
catches in my cloak
and a mythmaker cries:
“Beware, my Lord!
The Elm is a dangerous tree!”

But I am of the Ancient Elm!
Turned into the Oak Emperor
by strange hands twisting
the tapestry of my myth.

Back behind my Castle walls,
deep in my Imperial Chambers,
I unlock my chest and release:
withered elm leaves,
a tattered wizard robe,
runes of secrets
in language I’ve long forgotten.

But I cannot go outside!
My Castle is all;
the gild and glamour of my Court
dazzle me.

Ah, for my young questing days!
Where, I ask, is my Untamed Wood?
Where my Ancient Elm?
“They are gone,” say the mythmakers,
“paved under the Imperial Road
which leads to your Castle…”

…and ends.

The problem with not being in touch with your true self is that it allows others to control you. When you act from illusion, you are more easily manipulated. So the myth of the speaker in the poem is twisted, and he becomes an Oak Emperor fearing the Elm which was the actual reason he came to power. I also chose this, because it is so often true that the energy or creativity which allows someone to rise to power is hijacked by those around it and it becomes an act people pay lip service to rather than an actuality.

The speaker of the poem tries to relocate what he's lost but finds himself disconnected from it because he has spent twenty years (see The Court of the Sun) in illusion. Worse, he realizes that he cannot 'go outside' because the Castle, the Court, the entire establishment that he seeks to escape comes from himself and is controlled by himself. And yet, because he has handed over control to 'the Mythmakers' he can do nothing about it.

I think sometimes achieving something you've longed for can create a sort of dead end. There's a stagnation because the things you've been after for so long are in your grasp, and this brings you other things that you hadn't anticipated. So there's a sense of 'What now?' People can miss the striving that comes with not having what you longed for and just accept that the rough trail you fought to create is now an Imperial Road anyone can walk and that it leads to your destination and ends. There's something of a crisis when this happens, especially if some parts of that destination are not truly of your own making and just accepted by you. For example, when someone does well in their career and let's continued upward movement become their goal rather than the self-actualization that drove them initially. Realizing that you've somehoe gone off track is a very scary thing when you're on the 'throne'.