An appreciation of the Amomancer

I got a comment from a fan of the poet's the other day. In it she said that, at one time, she was intimidated by the "Muses"...as to her they had seemed like a race of goddesses: The beautiful Leopard, the soulful Panther, the majestic Brigit... But she had found, in time, that they were just ordinary women, the self-destructive Leopard, the inconstant Panther, the tempestuous Brigit...transformed by the heart and the words of the poet.

And, from this, I realized something. And I asked William (he hates it when I call him William...it's a long story) about it and he told me that I had just learned the secret of the Amomancer:

"The Amomancer has but a single spell to weave: Immortality. In this magic, he transforms mortals into immortals. Their fear, their love, their hate, their respect for him all flows from that ability and how they perceive it, and him, and ultimately their own worthiness to achieve that immortality."

Wow. Heady stuff.

Now, you can argue about whether he was born or bred to the task, but it is his purpose in life, to cast this spell.

Some have not realized he was casting it. Some were frightened by the magnitude of immortality. Some couldn't keep sane under the pressure of the transcendence of it all. Some were just unworthy and their own failings undid the spell, but in a manner that did not undo the magic, merely made it less beautiful.

I believe that he will keep casting it until his light fades or he finds someone who embraces it. Whether for its own sake or because it is part of the parcel of accepting him, I don't think matters much to him...he has more than once stayed with someone who loved the magic and not him well beyond the vintage of that passion.

But, looking back at his works - his cycles of Panthers and Goldenhearts, Leopards and Goddesses, Wisps, Swallows, Jades and Selkes, he has been over and over again just recasting the spell...(for that is his nature).

I don't think he'll be alone for long. Too many people out there who want to be immortal. It is just that most of them, once they reach that place, grow afraid of the height and pull away. He is, even at the peak of his relationships, one of the loneliest people I shall ever know.

Even he would admit that.

Will there be just one more Great Muse or a dozen? Will one of the past muses re-enter his life (some he would take back in an instant)? Will he find peace? I'd like to think so, if there is justice in the world and not just an endless parade of pretty, petty things.

Did you know one of his favorite songs is "Winning" by Santana?

"One day I was on the ground
When I needed a hand
Then it couldn't be found
I was so far down that I couldn't get up
You know and one day I was one of life's losers
Even my friends were my accusers
In my head I lost before I begun
I had a dream but it turned to dust
And what I thought was love
That must have been lust
I was living in style
When the walls fell in
And when I played my hand
I looked like a joker
Turn around fate must have woke her
Cause Lady Luck, she was waiting outside the door..."

He calls his yet-unmet Muse "Phoenix"..

I nominate "Lady Luck"...