Ulculp Five-Arms
Ulculp Sky-Watcher / dreamer and gazer
In shallows he / the sky counted
Naming the lights / unhidden at moon-dark
While sea in foam / blazed with small folk
Spring gales blew / over black ocean
Red light flamed / across empty sky
Mountain-fall's thunder / splitting the waves
Silver whale leaps / from sky to water
Ocean flees / three breaths of fire
Ulculp Bold-Seeker / quester for answers
In maelstrom he / sought the sky-whale
Sounding the depths / of shallows hollow
While waters treacherous / around him hissed
The whale he studies / near and nearer
In hunger fierce / mouth it opens
One great breath / too close is he
Arm fair-caught / in monstrous maw
While siphons strain / against the current
Ulculp Whale-Wrestler / in teeth caught
In hard struggle / tears fangs of metal
The bloodied waters / eagerly supped
While hero struggles / to freedom win
Above the mouth / another opens
Wide it gapes / a toothless maw
Long arms cling / the body bracing
Wandering fangs / they tear and bite
Steam boils below / as fire renews
Ulculp Air-Fighter / carried skyward
Far from water / drying he
To whale's twin mouths / with all arms clinging
As from the ocean / his foe does flee
Wandering fangs / cut and stabbed him
Lightning flashes / blue-white bright
From the heavens / hero falls unthinking
Heavy he plunges / torn from arm-hold
Bloody plummets / back to depths
Ulculp Sky-Fallen / once a dreamer
Now he watches / skies for flame
Fierce the whales / of heaven's ocean
Now and always / guards the sea
long-chant recorded by an Exploratory Service probe
in the oceans of Niméla (Tetrathys Bale)