Thingfish's Riddle

[Thingfish]

Yes, thanks for that Do you have the link?

[Sir Bahamut]

Man, don't boost his ego or it'll be even harder to get information from him :rolleyes2

But do they even know that it's a riddle for a Final Fantasy game? =P

[Thingfish]

Ah, jealousy from Sir.B. Now I really am flattered, and my ego is quite outsized!

[Sir Bahamut]

Nothing get's past your keen glance, eh?

[Thingfish]

I am very thorough. That's how I was able to create this monster!

[Mercen-X]

Do you have the link?

The address doesn't change like with these forums. The address is always www.poets.com. If you really want to read these reviews for yourself, you'll just have to join poets.com. Yes, they do have a charge, but there's a way around that. If you choose the yearly charge, they won't make their first charge until the end of your year (from the time you signed up). You can then choose to withdraw from the site without paying, (especially if you haven't written anything for the site). Aside from that, there's nothing I can do. Seriously, the address is the same no matter what screen I'm looking at.

Here's what the poem screen looks like.

Mind Bender

Riddle Master Thingfish

Paragon of a mute usurper, I.
To Occident and Orient adjunct.
Mine avocation: dearth to pacify,
By rubicund umbrage nigh-on defunct.

O, keen watchman to mine own, falter not,
To vouchsafe designs most astronomic.
Misplaced pursuit doth leave much truth forgot,
Affinity only one may mimic.

In anterior regard, quite absent,
Yet present, attending interregnum.
Contrary to self, mine heir apparent,
Abide, thou dost, foremost, and in tandem.

Confused, the vulgar see vengeful death's course,
Heaven's flute scourged, even focus slaughtered.
Yet displace determiner from this source,
A riotous assembly remembered.

Twixt conscience caught and more relative grounds,
All tears and woe be in our presence past.
At helm of craft, portentous death knell sounds.
Recurrent pause, wilt thou begun at last?

Is't a 'What'? Tis that thou thinkest of me?
Is't a 'Who'? Thrice shalt thou deceived be...

by Davneon

Author's Comments:
"This is a riddle created by my friend, Thingfish. No one so far has been able to translate the poem so the answer to the riddle remains a mystery. I would like to invite anyone with knowledge of Iambic Pentameter (or a dictionary and a thesaurus) to try their hand at deciphering this master-piece."




Reviews and Star Ratings for this poem:

"This poems has so much truth... and . . ."
****
Reviewed by: jellybeanhst

"This a very detailed and thougth provoking . . ."
*****
Reviewed by: LyndaVaughn

"The poem was wonderful and had plenty . . ."
****
Reviewed by: LustMeOrLoveMe

"That was some damn good wording there. . . ."
*****
Reviewed by: musicmansg03

"Oh, boy. I had to read . . ."
*****
Reviewed by: mary mouse

"A Mind Bender for sure. What . . ."
****
Reviewed by: Lore11

"The way you approcahed this was . . ."
*****
Reviewed by: lucypaloma

All poems are automatically centered (nothing I can do about it), and I can't change the font or style of the letters, so, it's impossible to make it an identical match.

[Thingfish]

Thanks for that. You can actually register and look through the poems after having reviewed one of them, but you can't read the whole reviews. Nice other poems there, Davneon

[Sir Bahamut]

No offense Thingfish, but a lot of that is crap. I mean:

"This poems has so much truth..."
****
Reviewed by: jellybeanhst

No one here, or there, know what the riddle really means in it's entirety, but even if we did, it certainly isn't about "life" and doesn't contain any "truth" beyond Final Fantasy 9. "Though provoking"? BS.

I don't mean to sound jealous or anything here(I have good reasons not to be), but I just couldn't help commenting on some of that crap =P Don't get me wrong though, I really like your riddle and all, but it's not exactly expanding anything but my vocabulary.

[Thingfish]

I would say it's helping expand your knowledge of things like Shakespeare, Iambic Pentameter, Latin etc, or will do by the end of it. It's sad to think you don't feel it's enriched you in other ways than merely your vocabulary.

[Sir Bahamut]

I meant it in no ill way, Thingfish, but we both know that your riddle is about a person in FF9, not the meaning of life. As a riddle, I think it's of the very highest caliber, and your riddles are always very cleverly worded and tough as hell while retaining the poetic quality that many riddles miss.

But I was wrong though, it hasn't just enriched my vocabulary extensively, my knowledge of Shakespeare and other such things has also become greater, but that's besides the point. What I meant was that it's kind of stupid to say some of the stuff those "poet.com" blokes said, which you surely must agree upon. A riddle is a riddle is a riddle; not an epic philosophical tale about life and death =P

[Thingfish]

No offense taken whatsoever, Sir.B, but part of the whole reason for me doing this riddle was also to be able to teach, in an entirely non-condescending way, some people about the existence and the intricacies of subjects which they may not normally encounter. I therefore don't think it is the point that this is merely a riddle.

You are indeed correct that people who don't know both its and FF9s background and come up with the kind of things those people above were saying about it are seeing things in it that were not originally intended. However, that does not mean that, for those people, those meanings are not there. Any poem you read, if it speaks to you through meanings that are personal to you, may not contain any meanings that were originally intended by the poet. That doesn't mean the meanings are any less relevent or important. It all depends on the reader.

[Sir Bahamut]

True, but I'm having trouble seeing how one could interpret your riddle as being all about something relevant outside of what it's intended to portray: a person in FF9. Most likely those guys are just saying that stuff because it makes them look good.

As for your riddle teaching people, I guess besides the obvious learning of the finer points of the english language, the real world references might, I suppose, teach us something. Of course, I can't really comment much on that, since I don't KNOW all the real world references and their relevance, but anyway.

[Thingfish]

You may have trouble seeing that because of your intimate knowledge of it. Who knows what it would mean to others who don't know FF9. But no matter.

Best get searching out those real-world references

[Sir Bahamut]

I guess they'll probably be tougher to find though, unless the references are to for instance people with distinctive nicknames(Ivan the Terrible for instance). Speaking of which, "rubicund umbrage" doesn't happen to refer to Stalin, does it?

EDIT: To clarify, Stalin was sometimes referred to as the "red" tsar, and I was trying to link that in witch rubicund umbrage. Another interesting find is this:

http://www.warflag.com/shadow/index.html

Obviously, it is the "Red Shadow" which is of interest here.

[Thingfish]

Very interesting indeed!

Nothing to do with Stalin or Warflag