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These are works by unknown and anonymous authors quoted in the various Malazan books.

Gadrobi Epitath[]

"I see a man crouched in a fire who leaves me cold and wondering what he is doing here so boldly crouched in my pyre…"
―Gadrobi Epitaph
Anomynous[src]

Lament of the Lonely Traveller[]

"See the mourning exile sitting by the lake. His cloak is ragged, his stomach cramped. Does he cry for fallen friends, for tankards never to be raised again to the long, rafters? Where are his companions, his brothers and benchmates? All stiff and staring in fields they lie. Their spears are broken, their swords blunt. Oh, where shall he go, this lone exile? Shall he cross the water? What is to become of him? What if he were you?"
―Lament of the Lonely Traveller
Anonymous (attributed by some to Fisher Tel Kath)[src]

Mother's Lament[]

"The old stones of this road
have rung with iron
black-shod hoofs and drums
where I saw him walking
up from the sea between the hills soaked red
in sunset he came, a boy among the echoes
sons and brothers in all ranks
of warrior ghosts he came to pass
where I sat on the worn final
league-stone at day's end -
his stride spoke loud all I needed
know of him on this road of stone -
the boy walks
another soldier, another one
bright heart not yet cooled
to hard iron
"
―Mother's Lament
Anonymous[src]

Poor Umur’s Sayings[]

"The frog atop the stack of coins dares not jump."
―Poor Umur’s Sayings
Anonymous[src]

Prayers of the Condemned[]

"Even a man who has lived a life of sorrows will ask for one more day."
―Prayers of the Condemned
Kolanse Imperial Archives
Anonymous[src]

Stela fragment, circa First Empire[]

"Yareth Ghanatan, the city stands still
First and last and where the old causeway
Curves in its half-circle there are towers
Of sand seething with empires and
Marching armies, broken wing banners
And the dismembered lining the walkways
Are soon the bones of the edifices, warriors
And builders both, the city ever stands
To house insect hordes, oh those towers
Rear so proud, rising as dreams on the
Heated breath of the sun, Yareth Ghanatan.
The city is the empress, wife and lover,
Crone and child of the First Empire,
And I yet remain, with all my kin,
The bones in the walls, the bones
Beneath the floor, the bones that cast
Down this gentle shade – first and last,
I see what comes, all that has gone,
And the clay of my flesh has felt your hands
The old warmth of life, for the city,
My city, it stands still, and it
stands,
Stands ever still.
"
―Bones in the Walls
(stela fragment, circa First Empire)
Author unknown[src]

Stela fragment (Yath Alban)[]

"Sarkanos, Ivindonos and Ganath stood looking down on the heaped corpses, the strewn pieces of flesh and fragments of bone. A field of battle knows only lost dreams and the ghosts clutch futilely at the ground, remembering naught but the last place of their lives, and the air is sullen now that the clangour is past, and the last moans of the dying have dwindled into silence.
While this did not belong to them, they yet stood. Of Jaghut, one can never know their thoughts, nor even their aspirations, but they were heard to speak, then.
‘All told,’ said Ganath. ‘This sordid tale here has ended, and there is no-one left to heave the standard high, and proclaim justice triumphant.’
‘This is a dark plain,’ said Ivindonos, ‘and I am mindful of such things, the sorrow untold, unless witnessed.’
‘Not mindful enough,’ said Sarkanos.
‘A bold accusation,’ said Ivindonos, his tusks bared in anger. ‘Tell me what I am blind to. Tell me what greater sorrow exists than what we see before us.’
And Sarkanos made reply, ‘Darker plains lie beyond.’ 
"
―Stela Fragment (Yath Alban)
Anonymous[src]

Shake fragment, Kharkanas[]

"She was dying but we carried her down to the shore. There was light stretched like skin over her pain, but it was thin and fast fraying. None of us dared note in any whisper of irony, how she who was named Awakening Dawn was now fading in this morning’s wretched rise.
Her weak gestures had brought her down here, where the silver waves fell like rain and the froth at the curling foot was flecked crimson. Bodies bloated and pale fanned limbs in the shallows, and we wondered at the fitness of her last command.
Is it suit to face your slayer? Soon enough I will answer that for myself. We can hear the legions mustering again behind the flowing wall, and the others are drawing back to ready their rough line. So few left. Perhaps this is what she came to see, before the killing light dried her eyes.
"
―Shake fragment, Kharkanas, Author unknown[src]

The Holy Desert[]

"If you seek the crumbled bones of the T'lan Imass, gather into one hand the sands of Raraku"
―The Holy Desert
Anomynous[src]

The Last Night of Bloodeye[]

"Against the flat like thunder
Where the self dwells between the eyes,
Beneath the blow the bone shattered
And the soul was dragged forth
To writhe in the grip
Of unredeemed vengeance…
"
―The Last Night of Bloodeye
Author unknown (compiled by Tiste Andü scholars of Black Coral)[src]

Untitled[]

"Woe to the fallen in the alleys of Aren…"
―Anomynous[src]

Notes and references[]

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