The Wheel of Time - "The Asha'man"

Today, the 14th (15th counting the prequel) installment in Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time fantasy series went on bookshelves across the world.  I began reading this series as a teenager when, as I've heard so many people say, a friend handed me a ragged copy to read.  I find it hard to count the number of people I've connected with over this series in the years since, both alive and dead.  I don't know the Jordans, or Brandon Sanderson (the author who completed the series after Jordan died from a blood disease in 2007) but in some way I count them as family, along with the expansive collection of vivid characters they created.  I've read many great books since picking up this series, but there's something about a piece that traverses so many years that climbs inside your life and sets up shop. 

I'm no gleeman, but in the wee hours preceding this monumental occasion 23 years in the making, I was inspired to do this rewrite of Jimmy Webb's great song, The Highwayman.  This song is a quartet of verses, each telling the tale of a different life of a working class man (a highwayman, a sailor, a dam builder and a starship pilot), and hints at a return to the original highwayman - always coming back.  This is the premise of the Wheel of Time, as the author James Oliver Rigney, Jr. explored the trappings (both figurative and literal) of a cyclical existence.  In my version of the song, you'll glimpse the life of an Asha'man (a male magician), a Sea Folk Swordmaster, an Ogier builder and the Dragon Reborn - the only hope for the world when the final battle comes (for me it started today as I downloaded the audio book at 12:10AM).

It just makes me sad that Robert Jordan wasn't here to see it - the completion of this series, that is.  As Brandon Sanderson so expertly wrote, "You go quietly, but leave us trembling."

(reference linked lyrics below)

I was an Asha'man, Tarmon Gai'don on the mind
Pain in the Aes Sedai
Many a Trolloc fell when I destroyed their Fade

Many a Seanchan died upon my Saidin blade
Fought Dumai's Wells long before they say I died

Yet I am still alive.

I was a Swordmaster; I was born upon the tide
My Sailmistress I'd abide.
We sailed our vessel through the Bay of Tanchico
I went aloft when our Windfinder sent a blow
And when the yards broke off they say that I got killed
But I am living still.

I was a builder from the Stedding of Shangtai
Sung wood Andoran pride

I left Caemlyn from what was an Ogier groveThrough the Ways where the Black Wind always blowsThey say I'm lost to the madness of that sound
But I am still around, 'cuz the Wheel spins me back around and around and around and 
around and around and around and around

I'll fight the Dark One out there beyond the Blight
And when I reach the other side
I'll join my brothers in the Wolf Dream if I can
Perhaps I may become an Asha'man again
Light, I could even have Lews Therin in my brain
But I will remain

And I'll be back again, and again and again and again and again

The Wheel spins me back again and again and again

A Memory of Light