BARDFEST 10: SESTINA
Scribed by Bevan
~1~
These songs run the spread of a performer's career. Some are twenty years old or more and first found an audience in the streets before the town became known as Wehnimer's Landing. They were sung to people such as Lael and Passion, Wanton and Ryanna, Kyrion and Warble, Kali and Manny, Strom and Metaboculous and Miriani and Oghier and Starshadow and Dreamweaver and Aivylark and many others of my fellows whose names are now lost to the history books, to dusty trophies or to the memories of those few who remain.
Some are more recent and were first heard in competitions, in workshops and in the garret in Wayside, among friends and loved ones. And I am still writing today. I hope you find these songs enjoyable.
I have written books and guides before, and dedicated them to people before, but only two names belong here: those of my wives Jadista and Morgause Ravenswing Faendryl, of whom "steadfast" is too weak a sentiment; my love until the stars burn out.
~2~
UNDER A CERTAIN MOON
Under a certain moon ...
... tales are woven and offered to you,
Silver-bright and gifted with the hopes
Of delighting your senses, and so onto
Plains of wonder, and love importune.
For love shines from your glistening eyes,
Above your enraptured lover's gaze.
My voice is night's velvet as surprise
And threnody alike the night cocoons.
I seek to enthrall you with my gift,
For word and tale is my chosen art -
And my voice more sure, my thought more swift
Those thoughts, for you, like starlight strewn.
Can you hear the pulse behind every phrase?
I love you... I love you! My moonlit love -
I fill our souls for the shadowed days
When this bed, this place is an empty room.
But it never shall, not in sober truth,
Because our memory holds us there.
Caught in the tales of a certain night ...
When I loved you - and you me -
... under a certain moon.
~3~
KOAR'S FIST: SIX KINSFOLK
(1st place, 10th Bardfest)
The Magician: He gazed up at the burning mount,
And lost himself in balefire's glow
And scarce a magister could count,
The dreadful perils that they'd know.
The Fist of Koar would strike a blow
For punishment of what they'd missed,
Exchanging wisdom for the woe,
Of those the fire's flow would kiss.
The Priestess: The glow, the screams, the ash's flight,
These things the priestess could not see.
Devotion was her waking life,
No matter if futility.
Her blessed faith could guarantee,
The solace for her poisoned flock
If but she saw their laden fright,
And of their aching cries took stock.
The Worker: A weary, aching hand he cast
Across his brow, and wiped the sweat
Of yet another day surpassed
And one less day he'd be in debt.
For no volcano would he fret,
No, not were he to burn that day!
"Nothing in this life can last,"
"I'd die eventually," he'd say.
The Noblewoman: She thought herself her family's chief -
The ruler of a bounteous horde,
And held her pride in land and fief
To be her just and due reward.
But neither gold, nor law, nor sword
Could hold back liquid rushing flame
And so the fires played the thief,
To steal the luster from her name.
The Executioner: He did his work - what cared the man,
That idle gossips cursed his trade?
No one suffered at his hand,
A swift kiss from an expert blade.
But greater doom than all he'd made -
The living breath of Eonak -
Struck victims down at none's command,
In irresistible attack.
The Merchant: A lifetime's prudent profit's gain ...
Happily she dwelt in peace.
But the dark and ashen rain
Predicted no such sure increase.
Thus she blessed her life's caprice
In hoarding wealth for future need.
She'd match the fiery river's pain
Which golden flows could supercede.
The Dead: Good gentles! Hear of what my kin,
Each in their turn in peril wrought!
And of the perils which they fought
Of mind and heart and discipline.
What in their place would you have done?
Or sought your own oblivion?
~4~
FROZEN DREAMS
(8th Bardfest preliminary piece)
It was the very ghost of dreams
That night beside summer's waters
I whispered words of dearest love,
So answered that I scarce could wait
To gather in my aching arms
The harvest reaped by sickle moon.
I claim as witness that same moon
Who watches over all men's dreams,
How I longed to lay in your arms
Cherished near those very waters
And would have bid the dawn to wait
If stilled time could encrystal your love.
Seeking Laethe's blessing in love,
My gaze fixed on the gleaming moon.
I thought She bade me yet to wait,
And wondered if illusive dreams
Were carried upon silvered waters
To be caught in my willing arms.
Once you gathered your wizard's arms
To fight for my name for pure love
And my tears were wistful waters
Bright as diamonds lit by the moon.
As lovers will, we dreamt our dreams,
All heedless of the doom in wait.
Now forlorn with longing I wait,
An amethyst statue with folded arms
Whose glacier eyes see no more dreams,
Or look on memory for love
And see no more a crescent moon
Reflected on now-frozen waters.
When we sat beside dark waters,
Too long in thought did we wait
Fleeing like the clouded moon,
You faded from my weakened arms,
And I was reft forever from love,
To lay adrift with shattered dreams.
Sterile waters spill from my arms
As here I dwell without your love
Beneath a moon cold as my dreams.
~5~
MINSTREL'S HEART
Mine is a bold and windswept life
A-wandering through this land -
I judge the world by my own law
And I live by my own hand
And if you ask me how I dare
To dwell so carelessly?
My song, my love, my minstrels heart
Are my authority!"
My mother was a spinner of song
My father a dreaming man
I have flown on the dragon's wing
And danced on holy land -
I've sung the flowers up from the ground
The raven from the tree...
My song, my love, my minstrel's heart
Are my authority... !
Once I was bound and fettered fast
By toil and mortal law -
But the ones who preach a god of fear
Can their own bleak rantings draw!
I'll ask ye not for word nor leave
Rule yourselves but let me be!
For my song, my love, my minstrel's heart
Are my authority!
Then while I breathe this glorious air
An outlaw I'll remain
My body will not e'er be subdued
And I will not be claimed!
I dare the fates to still my song
They have no chains on me!
That song, my love, and my minstrel's heart
Are my authority!
For my song, my love, my minstrel's heart -
Are my authority... !
~6~
VOYAGE OF THE LADY
(Twilight Hall Loresinging Workshop, 5108)
The dawn broke like thunder on our battered hopes and dreams
The night time fled in whispers and took with it our screams
The last remaining shard of what we'd sought to win
Hung on a gossamer strand of time that we had to then begin.
Calamities upon calamities were our lot at sea
Our captain had the shrieking fits and would not talk to me
The master lost his sanity, the bosun but a shard
Of any human decency amidst the pain and scars.
But we were forged of iron in the cauldron of the wave
Our longfathers through the Breaking stood steadfast, true and brave
We held ourselves above a shard of honor and of light
And we'd live through the dawn and day as we'd survived the night.
The last ship of the Ashrim fleet, the last hope of our race
Tore the wave like a burning brand and left but this for trace
The winged wake, the crystal shard, the granite of our home
All etched in our memories
as the Lady sailed alone.
And with our tattered crew and folk our lives we bought with pain
A shard of bone, our spilling blood washed off in morning rains
And as was true in days long past, that blood is mixed, you see
For every Ashrim man and maid's blood kindred with the sea.
So we set aside our fears with the shard of yesterday
And faced into the dawning mists, to Wavedancers' halls, to pray
Forgiven was the battle and forgotten was the snow
In the far off darkened reaches where mariners might go
And so the Ashrim of the North faced down their final wyrd
Each shining shard of memory and every lingering fear
They sailed past the Breaking and they ply the seas today
And remain the Masters of the wind, of rope and mast and stay.
~7~
FOR A FORGOTTEN FUTURE
There is starlight in the skies, and moonlight on the land,
There are questions in the air, with truths none understand,
And flame and sound and candlelight alight at our command,
The whirlwind of a loving is a force none can deny.
I see you...
As no one else has ever seen you,
I feel you...
Where no one else has ever touched you.
And I shall sing of you
When no one else remembers -
And I shall sing of you
So Time shall not swallow your name.
Too many years find wanderings on desolation's road,
And aching years of memories are whip and chain and goad,
Still within a separate peace one finds the motherlode -
A vein of golden loving and a clasp of loving hand.
The seasons turn and passions flow; we lose the yesterdays.
The heroes, fallen footnotes in forgotten bardic lays,
Every kiss that's shared, and every word that strays,
Are strewn behind an empty path which seekers never rode.
But I shall teach you ...
What no one else has ever taught you,
I shall keep you...
As no one else has ever kept you.
And I shall sing of you
When no one else remembers -
And I shall sing of you
So Time shall not swallow your name.
~8~
TWILIGHT PRINCESS
(1st place, Civic Competition, Wehnimer's Landing)
She came to me cloaked in winter's white -
(Was it a dream?)
Her eyes' crystalline glory my beacon light -
(It must be a dream.)
As she danced with silken grace cross the verge of night -
(It *was* a dream.)
And her eyes mirrored my own -
Her soul entwined with mine -
Her heart beating wildly against mine -
Our faces but inches apart -
(It could not possibly be real.)
And I awoke.
I woke to the morning's gold of the sun,
And the sun's beauty was wasted ashes on me.
(For she ever loved the night.)
The poetry of my dreams fled,
Like a caged bird unchained.
My mind dull as embers from a long-dead fire.
(For I was alone; she'd left with the dream.)
There was a silvery rainbow mist from the fountain -
Dewdrops shining like rare jewels strung on the grass -
But I did not see it.
(For she defined beauty; and in her absence it was gone.)
What could I do?
How was I to endure?
I was enmeshed in a web of my own making.
(Hers as well, whether she knew or not.)
She entered the speaking silence of my dreams,
But would that really be enough?
Could my soul-hunger live on that?
(I weary of pain and care.)
If I could walk in love with her,
Let the languid echoes of time fall where they may,
Uncaring, unheeded...
...wrought as a snowflake in winter's white -
(And I fell asleep once more.)
Patterned in piercing beauty by the grace of twilight -
(And she slipped into my dreams again.)
Her eyes shone on me with purest love's light -
(Her voice was larksong, thrilling in my dream.)
She was there again -
The twilight princess of my fantasies -
Would that I could dream so forever -
Please, Rinanni ... let me dream this forever -
~9~
THE LAST SCORPION
(1st place, Spirit To Sing)
"Five generations ago the Empire discovered copper in the Sea of Fire. As was - and remains -
their way, their law was at the point of a sword, and they took without reflection. The Tehiri
resisted then, and have ever since."
"The Scorpions were the elite - the finest warriors of their tribe, who could run as swiftly as the
revenging wind and yet scarce leave sandal-print on the dunes, who could only be chosen if they
had survived twelve and one wounds in battle, who could survive a ten-day without food and
three without water. They were the spearpoint of Tehiri resistance... while they lived."
Lo! ye Free Folk! Marshals of the sand, heroes of renown!
The night is wine and all sweet things, for a song must be told -
Hark at the deeds of your forebears, of the Scorpions of old -
Swim thou in the Light, and learn of ancient glories crowned.
Like wine in melting light, we saw the hate-glow of their fires.
They tore the metal from the rocks as a youth from her dreams.
And the herds destroyed - Mother Desert requite their schemes! -
And the innocence of maidens and young men fed their desires.
The Scorpions gathered in night's velvet, advanced, drew sword,
The outlanders fled, bleating like goats at the spring shearing
Despoilers, despoiled - and the High Free Folk touched bowspring -
A cascade of silvered death vouchsafed them their reward.
On the sands we deposited our tears with our beloved dead,
And our pain also... for pain is the black reiving of the chain
Of Life - and we had no time for craven surrender to our pain.
Bow and vengeance left to us - that, and our hatred and dread.
They knew not Mother Desert, but still they came in flood,
Great as the Dome of Deep Heaven wrought in twinkling light.
Pain and terror were the wanderers who roamed the desert night,
Never them! We tattooed their ignorance in leaping blood.
And we dwindle - but even now we fight, for our tents and sand -
I am the last Scorpion, my comrades faithful still in death,
Will you come with me tonight, gather your swords and breath?
For their caravan bells sound there, defiling our holy land.
Great Mother Desert! I am your son.
Great Mother Desert! I am your daughter.
Great Mother Desert! We are the Free Folk!
Now is our sunset, now comes their slaughter!
"The tales say the singer was found in the morning, ringed by slain Imperials. They say he was
set into the dunes with the enemies' banner for a shroud. They say his daughters and sons fight
yet, though none now claim the title of Scorpion."
"But of these things only Mother Desert knows for certain. And of these She does not speak."
~10~
COME FROM THE GRAVEYARD
Alone I stand at the graveside, waiting
While time slips by like the dirt through my hands
How long till my place lies there beside you?
How much longer alone must I stand?
(Beloved, the wars came upon us, slowly
Before we knew what the blackguards reviled
My duty stole me away from your bedside
Your duty remains to keep safe our dear child.)
This life quickens slowly inside me
Each moment a breath of agony I must bear
All that remains to me now is this gift
I must treasure alone and cannot share.
Where now is your guidance, your counsel
What use has the tomb for wisdom lost
I stand haunted alone at your graveside
Tell me, love, can I live with your ghost?
(For you, if I could, I would walk through the Gate
And clasp you in tender lovers' embrace
But the colder embrace of steel was my lot
And led me, entombed, to this fell, dreary place.)
(I wish I was there to help you bear burdens
The fair sunlit glory I see in your hair
My darling, you know I shall ever be with you
Waking and sleeping, I will always be there.)
There are moments I know I will falter
This blessing, this burden you leave in my care
Still I'll hold true to your love and your wisdom
And though I leave, I will not leave you here
Beside me you walk silent, unbidden
A presence that no others, my husband, can share
So come with me, love, from the graveyard
And this child, and this life, we will share.
~11~
BONESPEAR BLUES
(Not every song can be serious!)
Well the waerns chew the wrappings on my hilt
And my boots are filled with river silt
The eidos howling gets me down
And the dybbuks put me on the ground -
I am stuck in Bonespear with nothing to lose
I got them undead-a-hunting, baby blue bunting, got to scratch for favor blues!
The damn tower's shakin and I kiss the dust
The eidolons swarming with unholy lust
I want to see sunlight but that can't be
Cause old Voln hisself has it out for me -
I am stuck in Bonespear with nothing to lose
I got them swordarm-a-flailing, undead-a-wailing, got to spin that bloody globe blues!
Now Pappy wanted me in that bathhouse gang
But Mama cried, "Please don let my baby hang!"
"You go to the monastery and do what is right,"
"And free poor undead to soar to the light!"
Well, Mama knows best, thats what they say
And thats what led me to where I am today
Sitting in North Market waiting for a raise
Damn clerics having the happier day!
Cause I was stuck in Bonespear with nothing to lose -
I got them beat like a mule, empaths got my jewels, what a damn fool, I am...
Blues...
~12~
[FLAGGED FOR VULGARITY]ANSWERING VILLANELLE
(To someone who no longer exists, and may have always been an illusion)
A sword of living flame? We're not at war,
I'd rather be enchanted by your gaze -
Before that gaze masks can endure no more.
In realms of thought, from forest to the shore,
We wove our love throughout a thousand days.
A sword of living flame? We're not at war.
Poetry our dance, we danced the score,
And always could I feel your vision blaze -
Before that gaze masks can endure no more.
Never would I thought I could have more,
With more than words your blazing soul to graze,
A sword of living flame? We're not at war.
It's now illusion, caution I ignore.
My eyes in equal passion to yours raise ...
Before that gaze masks can endure no more.
And here we are, and may I yet restore,
Serenity alike in touch and phrase -
A sword of living flame? We're not at war,
Before your gaze masks must endure no more.
~13~
DREAMING DESTINY
Beneath the silver light I sing,
A keening for some future pain -
And wrought within the moonlit rain,
A threnody of despairing song.
Wrapped four-fold thick in mystery,
A dreamer's world which torn apart,
Revealed the dreamer's inner heart,
The mysteries of night prolong.
Where black stars blaze in amber night,
And whispered promises apace,
To salve the wounds with silvered grace,
And set right that was wrong.
No mercy in the fickle moons,
Surrounding in a lambent ring,
With all the dreamers suffering,
For when we lack a choice.
To rinse the darkness from our souls,
And empty death, and come to see,
For what our waking lives should be,
When dreams are given voice.
To set the meaning for our days,
And trade laments for newer tunes,
Could we ask a different boon?
Or wish for nearer joys?
~14~
THE EMPATH'S LAMENT
A warm glow washed upon the darkened lane
And voices carried out into the night
She waited there a while, and looking down
At hands with scars and knowledge dearly bought.
Who had not found a touch of what she'd sought
In lonely years through village, sea and town
For service was her joy -- healing, her light
But that was not why this dark night she came
"Maybe here," she thought, "Oh here, at last!"
She mused, her fingers resting on the door
"There'll be what I've ached for all my days,"
"There are so many folk and people here"
"And laughter, joking, friendship and good cheer -"
"Oh great and gentle goddess!" did she pray
"Please let me be so lonely nevermore,"
"Give me a family, end my soul's long fast!"
The healer walked inside with quiet step
And held her satchel tight unto her breast
She marveled and exulted at the scene
Of revelers -- With hope, she closed the door -
Leaving her fears behind beneath the moon
"Empath, ho!" She saw the speaker beam
"You're just what's needed for tomorrow's quest."
"We leave at dawn! So hark - do not forget!"
She nodded to the man, yet held her breath
But as he turned back to his waiting friends
She craved for yet more than a terse command
None looked her way for more than just a glance.
Her heart sunk within her - In a trance,
"This time is like the rest - I understand"
"I've here and always been a fool," she said,
"They want no more from me than ward from death."
She knew too well what the next morn would bring
The screams, the pouring blood, the pain, the fear
She'd seen it every day her waking life
But stronger still were vows that she had made -
To never, on her honor, let life fade
To knit and heal the bodies torn by strife.
As, loved by none, she slumbered with no cheer
While the hall below with song did ring -
The morning dawned a fair one, and the lass
Gathered to her party with a frown
The leader sent her straight back to the rear
"We've got to keep YOU safe! Just come along"
"Well shout for you should anything go wrong!"
Thus the calls that day, so cavalier
"Heal me!" "Take this bleeder!" "Willems down!"
"Do you have some leaf left?" "Where's that grass?"
Her rapier could have been sheathed, for the good
It did in war that day against the foe
Oh yes! that day, none of her party died
For even in despair her skill prevailed.
The quest ended in triumph, and they hailed
All their friends whom back in town they spied
In wine they toasted every kill they'd known
While off and to the side, forgot, she stood.
They gifted to her gold, and hearts aflame
With song and mirth they left her there alone
To seek out war of some less deadly kind
She stood all by herself at tavern door.
She knew that if the chance came by once more
To join for questing with those folk she'd find
She'd pray that next time she might find a home -
And once -
Just once -
They'd ask of her her name.
~15~
FINALS VILLANELLE
(2nd place, 8th Bardfest)
I cannot claim obscurity!
In my brilliant finery prate
And so embrace pomposity!
For decked in violet, as you see,
I prance about in kingly state.
I cannot claim obscurity!
Why, this fine stage could be for me!
For bards like me, entirely great,
And so embrace pomposity!
Farewell dim meadows, greetings, Sea!
Your mighty grandeur is my fate
I cannot claim obscurity!
Can my magnificent panoply
Be too much for Lorminstra's Gate?
And so embrace pomposity?
Aye, I confess! Could anyone be
More a foppish reprobate?
I cannot claim obscurity,
And so embrace pomposity!
~16~
FOR A WEDDING NEVER HELD
Her hair is as black as the midnight sky,
Her eyes are the green of the sea,
Her raiment as red as the morning sun -
How can she cherish me?
The dancing foam on the rushing waves
Are no whiter than her smile -
And her laughter on the eastern wind
Brings solace o'er each mile.
Her hand on my cheek is the gentle caress
Of the wind in the sails above -
The touch of her lips is scarlet fire,
Awakening me to love.
Here, she draws me - here, today -
To fold me in embrace,
To hide and to hold, to gather in love,
This company to this place
For here today, I pledge my troth,
Under Deep Heaven's dome
In a safer haven, on the shore,
A mariner come home.
~17~
OLD SAILOR MAN
The tavern was filled with my friends and the flames
And if wood could sing, then a brave song and wild
Would ring from its rafters, and walls give the names
Of passersby present and past, man from child.
There sat past that circle of reverie bright
A man old and withered in oilskins and cap
The cruel years had stolen his speed and keen sight
His hands showed the marks of both net and of trap.
I really can't say why the sailor man drew
All my attention with cronies so near
But I stared as on an old pipe he blew
And craned myself over so that I might hear:
Inside every sailor, you'll find a young man -
Itchin' to get to sea soon as he can.
He dreams of pretty girls, dusky and brown
And he longs to get clear of his boring home town
Yes, he longs to get clear of his boring home town.
"Aye, it wuz wit' Cap'n Tara I sailed,
An' a fair sailor wuz she," I heard the man say.
"We'd a fine and taut ship and never we bailed,
Nor yet the lash or the starter would play."
"Ye'd not ken to see me, but I wuz a fine lad
All lively and quick-like!" I heard the man say.
"I'd up the ratlines as neat as yer dad,
And spy forty miles on a clear an' bright day."
Inside every sailor - black, brown or grey
Are the brave vessels that sail far away.
Beyond the horizon, ahead and behind
Will what they're searching for be what they find?
Will what they're searching for be what they find?
I listened intently at the old sailor's tale.
Why exactly that was, I can't really tell.
His story was plain - - as a minstrel he'd fail.
He spoke of no more than of wind, wave and bell.
"Ar, but them's was brave days, and brave times we led!
We's got lots of loot!" I heard the man say.
"The tradin' wuz good, an' the grub we wuz fed
Wuz allus the better than on shore in the day!"
"Well, 'tis time t'take in the slack of me jaw
I bids ye g'night," I heard the man say.
And he took up his cap, and he spat out his chaw
In taking his leave of us, into the spray.
Inside every sailor, you'll find an old man
With rose-colored memories of where he began
For he sailed the oceans, to ports of renown
Now he longs to get back to his boring home town
Yes he longs to get back to his boring home town.
The door closed behind him and shut out the rain
And the misted night echoed in my shadowed thought
For I pondered on what I learned here again
The valuable lessons an old sailor taught.
It's not always the heroes who make up the land
Nor yet the dark villains of epic and song
Some times it's a sailor from sea and from sand
Whose tale is the truer as night comes along.
~18~
PASSING OF THE LORDS OF ARKATI
(Preliminary piece, 9th Bardfest)
The gossamer threads of memory bind the heart and soul in turn
And with every severed strand shall the memories likewise fade
My lands and age are dead and lost and shall not now return
For the Gods of old have passed through night to fail before your day
The Keys of Crystal shimmering in the darkness like a star
Clasped tightly in Lorminstra's hand to ward and guard the Gates
Has she died herself? Now Lorminstra is the bar
And Guardian of oblivion, divider of our fates --
Fair Oleani bound me fast in wedlock with my brides
She cast her hair - a net of gold - to cloak us with her gift
But she is gone And so are they, cast off into the tides
Of memory and vanished love, through Times and hearts lost rift
"Dance, Ivas, dance," they used to call, and reveled through the night
And shuddered to feel Onar's shade or spy Arachne's web
Once Voln's great Order dared the fates and warred against Unlife
Now only in our swords he lives! His world and time are dead.
Ronan the Nightwalker, and Phoen's golden sun
Eonake's Reach, Gosaena's crown - your rule is lost and done!
Tilamaire shall sing no more, nor Kai's Triumphant Song
Be heard in a harsher age where they cannot now belong -- !
The gossamer threads of memory bind the heart and soul in turn
And with every severed strand shall the memories likewise fade
My lands and age are dead and lost and shall not now return
For the Lords of Arkati passed through night to fail before your day.
~19~
BALLAD OF THE DARK ALLIANCE PEONS
(DA Concert Series, Solhaven, 5106)
(In the thick of the undeclared war between the Dark Alliance of Solhaven and what was
colloquially called the Resistance, I held a series of concerts featuring satiric songs lampooning
the DA and its members. It brought a welcome degree of laughter to a shadowed time in
Solhaven and gave the forces of righteousness a needed morale lift. Here are a few selections.)
"It has been brought to my attention that I have been focusing unduly on prominent members of the Alliance such as Mekthros, Wulfhen and Naamit. A petition has been received, therefore, byLady Ravenswing and myself from the Provisional Revanchist Left and Right Wing of the Dark Alliance."
"Their grievance, such as it is, is that we focus too much on the principals of the Dark Alliance, and not enough on the footsoldiers who, without glory or preeminence, toil on in the shadow of mightier members. Lady Ravenswing and myself are cognizant of their grievance, and believe that it should not remain unaddressed. Therefore, I would like to present for you this evening what we call the Ballad of the Dark Alliance Peons."
See the Dark Alliance
Swaggering down the street
Looking for a victim
Blood and screams are sweet!
A wizard with a runestaff
He looks quite frail and old
Lets pick on him... Oh no, lads, run!
He's casting Minor Cold!
Oh, look - a little Aelotoi
Now, that's an easy catch!
Watch out! She's snapped a lockpick!
That broken end could scratch!
At least let s kick the pelican
What? Are you raving mad?
Just look at the beak on that thing!
Besides, its breath smells bad.
Well, here's an orphan puppy
That can't hurt us, right?
Well, but it's got its milk-teeth -
Who d want a nasty bite?
See the Dark Alliance
Crawling in the dust
The peg-legged cat just beat them up
They're bawling fit to bust!
"Thank you for listening to this ballad. And remember. The Dark Alliance Peons are evil too. Cower before them every so often. It is so little to do to salve their self-esteem. Let them know you care. Thank you again."
~20~
STUMPY AND THE JACKAL
(DA Concert Series, Solhaven, 5106)
Hark, all ye sailor-men, and sailor-lasses today!
And hark as well to you landsmen, come listen to my lay.
For of the greatest combats that ever the Haven knew
The mightiest of all is in this song I'll sing to you.
Of the many small accomplishments the Dark Alliance bragged
(And in such boasting, after all, they seldom ever lagged)
The proudest of them all - - folks said - - was of a mighty pet
A Jackal fierce and terrible, a veritable daemon's get!
They staked their mascot to the ring, all challengers to face
And sent out their defiances from Ta'Vaalor to the Trace
For any opposition their champion would gnaw to size
And backing up their boasts stood a million for the prize.
Now a certain scraggly cat is the pride of our wharfs and docks
He sups on nails and roofing tacks! For a scratching post, the stocks
The longshoremen and doxies, and the crimps and cooks alike
Staked their silvers on the prowess of Stumpy, their enemy to strike.
At last the matter was mooted, the battle to appear
At seven bells that very eve upon North Market Pier
The cat sauntered through Ebondrift, to take his final squat
Thence to the Pier and into the ring with his ungainly trot.
The wagers on the combat flew swift as a clipper ship
And Gertie earned small fortunes making book on every slip
Mekthros wagered his manhood, and the Brat Prince matched the bet
With a tarnished, varnished copper - no more could Mekkie get!
Over in the red corner, the Jackal snarled and howled
Across from it, the peg-leg cat stropped his claws and yowled
The Alliance cheered for their hero, and the sailors for theirs, and more
In waves that crashed like rushing surf upon forgotten shores.
The Jackal puffed its chest out and let loose a fearsome bray
(If that was a sound you'd call fearsome. More like some lambs at play!)
And it scratched its claws and somewhere else I really daren't tell
While good old Stumpy, unconcerned, awaited the Captain's bell.
The bell for the round resounded, and the Jackal sprang to its call
(If "springing" you would deem it. More like a drunkard's fall.)
Its fangs enfoamed and brandished, its teeth bared in a smile
Its breath could stun banaltra at a distance of a mile.
But like the revenging whirlwind, the Jackal sought its mark
(While Stumpy just plain sat there, a-lounging in the dark)
(And set himself to groom his paw, and groomed his pegleg to boot)
No one was going to deem the Jackal shy in this dispute!
The tripod tabby licked his paw with unconcerned disdain
The Jackal might as well have been on the end of a four-foot chain
He cleaned his ears and groomed his tail and smoothed his whiskers out
And when the Jackal blundered nigh, he calmly smote a clout.
The cheers rang out and groans as well as chanting filled the house
But Stumpy was in no hurry... he'd found a tasty mouse!
The Jackal foamed and slavered and took a threatening pose
But Stumpy merely yawned -- annoyed -- and bloodied the doglet's nose.
Now it is true that I am mild of habit and of tune
So I'll cut short this battle scene, and really, none too soon
Suffice to say with mournful howls South Haven's alleys filled
While the blissful purring in the ring speaks best on who was killed!
The cooperage had never had a better day than this
And the cooper's wife and all his men were wreathed in sheerest bliss
Until the dusk the Alliance wore barrels to hide their shame
For even with pawning the clothes on their backs they'd no silver to their name.
Red clouds in the sunset, with storms for the morning tide
And red eyes in the taverns, where the Haven's finest abide
For many a flagon was raised that night to the Cat of All The Cats!
The conqueror of the jackals and the bane of soap and rats!
So come all ye lasses, and sailors from the Main
And listen to the lesson that's told in this refrain
Our undefeated champion of alley brawling might
Is our faithful Stumpy, dining on jackal meat tonight!
For though the Guild may kiss the rumps of Jackals and their ilk
And humor their lickspittle lackeys, and tremble in their silks
Rulers they dare to call themselves, when they're no more than tools
The fact remains - in Solhaven Town, it's the peg-legged cat who rules!
~21~
BALLAD OF ERYAEL
(DA Concert Series, Solhaven, 5106)
(The chief villain of the day was the so-called "Rose Lord" Eryael, a minion of Mularos sent to plague the land. This mocking duet between Eryael and his wife was performed with the able assistance of Lady Landrai.)
Eryael:
"Ahem! Oh my wife, are you loafing again?
For I am the master of this, my domain
Here, wash this robe, it's so bloody it's ripe
And where is my supper, my slippers and pipe?"
(Eryael's wife paces furiously back and forth before standing rigid with her legs apart. Placing her hands on her hips, she stares at Eryael with flame-heated eyes and points a single finger towards him)
Eryael's Wife:
"Oh, Erry! How often have I told you before
Leave the damn manacles OUTSIDE the door!
You've blood on your clothing and gore in your hair
And... how in His name did you get ichor THERE?"
(Eryael's wife throws her hands in disgust and storms in a circle about Eryael, staring at his backside as she sings the last word.)
(Eryael regards his wife curiously, giving his head a small disbelieving shake, and sings very slowly and deliberately, as if to a child:)
Eryael:
"Hah, hum, my wife, now none of your gloom
Your contributions are with needle and broom!
Remember I walk with Mularos grace -
So tend to your chores and forget not your place."
(Eryael's wife moves towards Eryael, points a finger at him and starts waggling it.)
Eryael's Wife:
"You never come cuddle me, we never go out
Our carriage is rusting, our cottage forgot
There's been no vacation in a decade or two -
Just torture, more torture, what's a housewife to do?"
"You don't bring me flowers, I get scalps instead
Why, even the kitten you brought me was dead!
I wish I'd known years ago how it would be
I'd have married the baker - much better for me!"
(Eryael stares narrowly at his wife, his chill gaze traveling up and down her form, and furrows his brow.)
Eryael:
"What are you saying? How can all this be?
Woman, be careful in defiance of me!
Do I not reign at the right hand of Pain?
It's therefore your duty to launder again!"
(Eryael turns up his nose, hauteur pouring from his gaze.)
(Eryael's wife moves off to the side, holding a conversation with herself. She holds out each hand with the palms up and tilts them up and down as if weighing something.)
Eryael's Wife:
"I should have realized when on our first date
A victim's maiming was why you were late
And dear me, how could a maiden expect?
That you'd bring me to a chirurgeon's foyer to neck?"
(Eryael murmurs, "And that was a problem?")
(Eryael's wife's eyes shine with anger as she stares at him, daring him to come closer. She slowly starts towards him. As she stands in front of him, she plants a finger in his chest, emphasizing each word with a poke.)
Eryael's Wife:
"I was so silly - if I'd heeded Mama
I'd have married a snake-kisser - cleaner by far
For serpents are poisonous and their bite is sure
But ... STAY WHERE YOU ARE! Don't track blood on the floor!"
(Eryael halts in his tracks, skidding slightly on the gravel.)
Eryael:
"Ungrateful wench, that you say this of me
Why, I'm the best husband that you'll ever see!
By Mularos's favor, we're quite unencumbered
And I even husband you one night every hundred!"
Eryael's Wife:
"Now religion I know is important to you
And yes, you're ambitious, but listen, now do!
I haven't complained for too much of our life
But you WILL perhaps notice that I am your wife!
Isn't it enough that your robe's soaked with blood
Must we have rents in a copious flood?
You're letting your clothes go to ruin and rack
Will you please stop your swearing, and who is Kinshack?"
(Eryael tosses a vicious glare at his wife, his features a mask of outrage, and shakes the robes and stick at her.)
Eryael:
"Kinshack is no consequence, neither are you
So shut your cadaverous gum flapping, do!
You've had your orders, now carry them out
Mularos's high clerics word you can't flout!"
(Eryael turns away from his wife, ignoring her.)
Eryael's Wife:
"Some women get diamonds, some women get jewels
You give me blood-crusted bone flaying tools!
Some women get charming vacations for two
Some have manly men! And I'm stuck with you?"
(Eryael's wife stares accusingly at him and strides forward, pushing him back with each step until she has him cornered. )
Eryael's Wife:
"Your endless catastrophes make my life hard
And still you're no closer to getting the shard!
I'm tired of roses and sickened of thee!
Oh, Leya's dear Amazons - make room for me!"
(Eryael's wife gives him a slap across the face with the back of her hand!)
(Eryael's wife - turning on her heels - storms out.)
(Eryael slowly, piteously, sinks to his knees...)
Eryael:
"But... but... my dinner's uncooked, and no washing begun
And my laundry's exhausted and my tights have a run
Oh, lovey, my dewdrop, please come back..."
(Eryael sighs bitterly.)
"... oh, hell.
I suppose I can borrow a goat from Licel."
~22~
FIDDLER'S GREEN
(Finalist, Poet's Seat competition)
My schooner and my friends all left this year's past Ivastaen,
And of full fifty bonny crew I'm left here to remain.
They have all gone up to a place that I have never seen.
My mates are singing sailor songs on the lawn at Fiddler's Green.
They're singing and a-laughing, boys, and drinking like a queen -
And dancing till the stars burn out up there on Fiddler's Green.
It was a stormy night and day, but the captain warn't perturbed.
He took less note of wind or spray than a dolphin or a bird.
What cared he if the waves' cascade was a mast's height o'er the beam?
He had no time for silly fears before dawn on Fiddler's Green.
Till dawning time upon the grass behind the roses' screen,
What cares a sailor for the past upon the Fiddler's Green?
But mountains crumble 'fore a storm, and a schooner's made of wood.
And wind and wave don't give a damn for what you understood.
For safety in a gale's no gift and none will intervene,
When you're drowned just like a ruddy fool and barred from Fiddler's Green!
A ghastly fate for a mariner, to forever be unclean --
And never join in the merriment on the shores of Fiddler's Green!
My friends all passed on in that night and I was left to mourn,
A-hanging to a shattered spar and left there all forlorn -
Until a lobster smack came by and now I reminisce -
And ventured on the sea no more from that day forth to this.
My lost shipmates, farewell, adieu! With all my heart I mean
To sing and dance with you someday on the lawn of Fiddler's Green.
Wavedancer's grace, save me a mug! Hell, save me seventeen!
We'll all get paralytic drunk when we meet on Fiddler's Green!
~23~
Scribed by Bevan
~1~
These songs run the spread of a performer's career. Some are twenty years old or more and first found an audience in the streets before the town became known as Wehnimer's Landing. They were sung to people such as Lael and Passion, Wanton and Ryanna, Kyrion and Warble, Kali and Manny, Strom and Metaboculous and Miriani and Oghier and Starshadow and Dreamweaver and Aivylark and many others of my fellows whose names are now lost to the history books, to dusty trophies or to the memories of those few who remain.
Some are more recent and were first heard in competitions, in workshops and in the garret in Wayside, among friends and loved ones. And I am still writing today. I hope you find these songs enjoyable.
I have written books and guides before, and dedicated them to people before, but only two names belong here: those of my wives Jadista and Morgause Ravenswing Faendryl, of whom "steadfast" is too weak a sentiment; my love until the stars burn out.
~2~
UNDER A CERTAIN MOON
Under a certain moon ...
... tales are woven and offered to you,
Silver-bright and gifted with the hopes
Of delighting your senses, and so onto
Plains of wonder, and love importune.
For love shines from your glistening eyes,
Above your enraptured lover's gaze.
My voice is night's velvet as surprise
And threnody alike the night cocoons.
I seek to enthrall you with my gift,
For word and tale is my chosen art -
And my voice more sure, my thought more swift
Those thoughts, for you, like starlight strewn.
Can you hear the pulse behind every phrase?
I love you... I love you! My moonlit love -
I fill our souls for the shadowed days
When this bed, this place is an empty room.
But it never shall, not in sober truth,
Because our memory holds us there.
Caught in the tales of a certain night ...
When I loved you - and you me -
... under a certain moon.
~3~
KOAR'S FIST: SIX KINSFOLK
(1st place, 10th Bardfest)
The Magician: He gazed up at the burning mount,
And lost himself in balefire's glow
And scarce a magister could count,
The dreadful perils that they'd know.
The Fist of Koar would strike a blow
For punishment of what they'd missed,
Exchanging wisdom for the woe,
Of those the fire's flow would kiss.
The Priestess: The glow, the screams, the ash's flight,
These things the priestess could not see.
Devotion was her waking life,
No matter if futility.
Her blessed faith could guarantee,
The solace for her poisoned flock
If but she saw their laden fright,
And of their aching cries took stock.
The Worker: A weary, aching hand he cast
Across his brow, and wiped the sweat
Of yet another day surpassed
And one less day he'd be in debt.
For no volcano would he fret,
No, not were he to burn that day!
"Nothing in this life can last,"
"I'd die eventually," he'd say.
The Noblewoman: She thought herself her family's chief -
The ruler of a bounteous horde,
And held her pride in land and fief
To be her just and due reward.
But neither gold, nor law, nor sword
Could hold back liquid rushing flame
And so the fires played the thief,
To steal the luster from her name.
The Executioner: He did his work - what cared the man,
That idle gossips cursed his trade?
No one suffered at his hand,
A swift kiss from an expert blade.
But greater doom than all he'd made -
The living breath of Eonak -
Struck victims down at none's command,
In irresistible attack.
The Merchant: A lifetime's prudent profit's gain ...
Happily she dwelt in peace.
But the dark and ashen rain
Predicted no such sure increase.
Thus she blessed her life's caprice
In hoarding wealth for future need.
She'd match the fiery river's pain
Which golden flows could supercede.
The Dead: Good gentles! Hear of what my kin,
Each in their turn in peril wrought!
And of the perils which they fought
Of mind and heart and discipline.
What in their place would you have done?
Or sought your own oblivion?
~4~
FROZEN DREAMS
(8th Bardfest preliminary piece)
It was the very ghost of dreams
That night beside summer's waters
I whispered words of dearest love,
So answered that I scarce could wait
To gather in my aching arms
The harvest reaped by sickle moon.
I claim as witness that same moon
Who watches over all men's dreams,
How I longed to lay in your arms
Cherished near those very waters
And would have bid the dawn to wait
If stilled time could encrystal your love.
Seeking Laethe's blessing in love,
My gaze fixed on the gleaming moon.
I thought She bade me yet to wait,
And wondered if illusive dreams
Were carried upon silvered waters
To be caught in my willing arms.
Once you gathered your wizard's arms
To fight for my name for pure love
And my tears were wistful waters
Bright as diamonds lit by the moon.
As lovers will, we dreamt our dreams,
All heedless of the doom in wait.
Now forlorn with longing I wait,
An amethyst statue with folded arms
Whose glacier eyes see no more dreams,
Or look on memory for love
And see no more a crescent moon
Reflected on now-frozen waters.
When we sat beside dark waters,
Too long in thought did we wait
Fleeing like the clouded moon,
You faded from my weakened arms,
And I was reft forever from love,
To lay adrift with shattered dreams.
Sterile waters spill from my arms
As here I dwell without your love
Beneath a moon cold as my dreams.
~5~
MINSTREL'S HEART
Mine is a bold and windswept life
A-wandering through this land -
I judge the world by my own law
And I live by my own hand
And if you ask me how I dare
To dwell so carelessly?
My song, my love, my minstrels heart
Are my authority!"
My mother was a spinner of song
My father a dreaming man
I have flown on the dragon's wing
And danced on holy land -
I've sung the flowers up from the ground
The raven from the tree...
My song, my love, my minstrel's heart
Are my authority... !
Once I was bound and fettered fast
By toil and mortal law -
But the ones who preach a god of fear
Can their own bleak rantings draw!
I'll ask ye not for word nor leave
Rule yourselves but let me be!
For my song, my love, my minstrel's heart
Are my authority!
Then while I breathe this glorious air
An outlaw I'll remain
My body will not e'er be subdued
And I will not be claimed!
I dare the fates to still my song
They have no chains on me!
That song, my love, and my minstrel's heart
Are my authority!
For my song, my love, my minstrel's heart -
Are my authority... !
~6~
VOYAGE OF THE LADY
(Twilight Hall Loresinging Workshop, 5108)
The dawn broke like thunder on our battered hopes and dreams
The night time fled in whispers and took with it our screams
The last remaining shard of what we'd sought to win
Hung on a gossamer strand of time that we had to then begin.
Calamities upon calamities were our lot at sea
Our captain had the shrieking fits and would not talk to me
The master lost his sanity, the bosun but a shard
Of any human decency amidst the pain and scars.
But we were forged of iron in the cauldron of the wave
Our longfathers through the Breaking stood steadfast, true and brave
We held ourselves above a shard of honor and of light
And we'd live through the dawn and day as we'd survived the night.
The last ship of the Ashrim fleet, the last hope of our race
Tore the wave like a burning brand and left but this for trace
The winged wake, the crystal shard, the granite of our home
All etched in our memories
as the Lady sailed alone.
And with our tattered crew and folk our lives we bought with pain
A shard of bone, our spilling blood washed off in morning rains
And as was true in days long past, that blood is mixed, you see
For every Ashrim man and maid's blood kindred with the sea.
So we set aside our fears with the shard of yesterday
And faced into the dawning mists, to Wavedancers' halls, to pray
Forgiven was the battle and forgotten was the snow
In the far off darkened reaches where mariners might go
And so the Ashrim of the North faced down their final wyrd
Each shining shard of memory and every lingering fear
They sailed past the Breaking and they ply the seas today
And remain the Masters of the wind, of rope and mast and stay.
~7~
FOR A FORGOTTEN FUTURE
There is starlight in the skies, and moonlight on the land,
There are questions in the air, with truths none understand,
And flame and sound and candlelight alight at our command,
The whirlwind of a loving is a force none can deny.
I see you...
As no one else has ever seen you,
I feel you...
Where no one else has ever touched you.
And I shall sing of you
When no one else remembers -
And I shall sing of you
So Time shall not swallow your name.
Too many years find wanderings on desolation's road,
And aching years of memories are whip and chain and goad,
Still within a separate peace one finds the motherlode -
A vein of golden loving and a clasp of loving hand.
The seasons turn and passions flow; we lose the yesterdays.
The heroes, fallen footnotes in forgotten bardic lays,
Every kiss that's shared, and every word that strays,
Are strewn behind an empty path which seekers never rode.
But I shall teach you ...
What no one else has ever taught you,
I shall keep you...
As no one else has ever kept you.
And I shall sing of you
When no one else remembers -
And I shall sing of you
So Time shall not swallow your name.
~8~
TWILIGHT PRINCESS
(1st place, Civic Competition, Wehnimer's Landing)
She came to me cloaked in winter's white -
(Was it a dream?)
Her eyes' crystalline glory my beacon light -
(It must be a dream.)
As she danced with silken grace cross the verge of night -
(It *was* a dream.)
And her eyes mirrored my own -
Her soul entwined with mine -
Her heart beating wildly against mine -
Our faces but inches apart -
(It could not possibly be real.)
And I awoke.
I woke to the morning's gold of the sun,
And the sun's beauty was wasted ashes on me.
(For she ever loved the night.)
The poetry of my dreams fled,
Like a caged bird unchained.
My mind dull as embers from a long-dead fire.
(For I was alone; she'd left with the dream.)
There was a silvery rainbow mist from the fountain -
Dewdrops shining like rare jewels strung on the grass -
But I did not see it.
(For she defined beauty; and in her absence it was gone.)
What could I do?
How was I to endure?
I was enmeshed in a web of my own making.
(Hers as well, whether she knew or not.)
She entered the speaking silence of my dreams,
But would that really be enough?
Could my soul-hunger live on that?
(I weary of pain and care.)
If I could walk in love with her,
Let the languid echoes of time fall where they may,
Uncaring, unheeded...
...wrought as a snowflake in winter's white -
(And I fell asleep once more.)
Patterned in piercing beauty by the grace of twilight -
(And she slipped into my dreams again.)
Her eyes shone on me with purest love's light -
(Her voice was larksong, thrilling in my dream.)
She was there again -
The twilight princess of my fantasies -
Would that I could dream so forever -
Please, Rinanni ... let me dream this forever -
~9~
THE LAST SCORPION
(1st place, Spirit To Sing)
"Five generations ago the Empire discovered copper in the Sea of Fire. As was - and remains -
their way, their law was at the point of a sword, and they took without reflection. The Tehiri
resisted then, and have ever since."
"The Scorpions were the elite - the finest warriors of their tribe, who could run as swiftly as the
revenging wind and yet scarce leave sandal-print on the dunes, who could only be chosen if they
had survived twelve and one wounds in battle, who could survive a ten-day without food and
three without water. They were the spearpoint of Tehiri resistance... while they lived."
Lo! ye Free Folk! Marshals of the sand, heroes of renown!
The night is wine and all sweet things, for a song must be told -
Hark at the deeds of your forebears, of the Scorpions of old -
Swim thou in the Light, and learn of ancient glories crowned.
Like wine in melting light, we saw the hate-glow of their fires.
They tore the metal from the rocks as a youth from her dreams.
And the herds destroyed - Mother Desert requite their schemes! -
And the innocence of maidens and young men fed their desires.
The Scorpions gathered in night's velvet, advanced, drew sword,
The outlanders fled, bleating like goats at the spring shearing
Despoilers, despoiled - and the High Free Folk touched bowspring -
A cascade of silvered death vouchsafed them their reward.
On the sands we deposited our tears with our beloved dead,
And our pain also... for pain is the black reiving of the chain
Of Life - and we had no time for craven surrender to our pain.
Bow and vengeance left to us - that, and our hatred and dread.
They knew not Mother Desert, but still they came in flood,
Great as the Dome of Deep Heaven wrought in twinkling light.
Pain and terror were the wanderers who roamed the desert night,
Never them! We tattooed their ignorance in leaping blood.
And we dwindle - but even now we fight, for our tents and sand -
I am the last Scorpion, my comrades faithful still in death,
Will you come with me tonight, gather your swords and breath?
For their caravan bells sound there, defiling our holy land.
Great Mother Desert! I am your son.
Great Mother Desert! I am your daughter.
Great Mother Desert! We are the Free Folk!
Now is our sunset, now comes their slaughter!
"The tales say the singer was found in the morning, ringed by slain Imperials. They say he was
set into the dunes with the enemies' banner for a shroud. They say his daughters and sons fight
yet, though none now claim the title of Scorpion."
"But of these things only Mother Desert knows for certain. And of these She does not speak."
~10~
COME FROM THE GRAVEYARD
Alone I stand at the graveside, waiting
While time slips by like the dirt through my hands
How long till my place lies there beside you?
How much longer alone must I stand?
(Beloved, the wars came upon us, slowly
Before we knew what the blackguards reviled
My duty stole me away from your bedside
Your duty remains to keep safe our dear child.)
This life quickens slowly inside me
Each moment a breath of agony I must bear
All that remains to me now is this gift
I must treasure alone and cannot share.
Where now is your guidance, your counsel
What use has the tomb for wisdom lost
I stand haunted alone at your graveside
Tell me, love, can I live with your ghost?
(For you, if I could, I would walk through the Gate
And clasp you in tender lovers' embrace
But the colder embrace of steel was my lot
And led me, entombed, to this fell, dreary place.)
(I wish I was there to help you bear burdens
The fair sunlit glory I see in your hair
My darling, you know I shall ever be with you
Waking and sleeping, I will always be there.)
There are moments I know I will falter
This blessing, this burden you leave in my care
Still I'll hold true to your love and your wisdom
And though I leave, I will not leave you here
Beside me you walk silent, unbidden
A presence that no others, my husband, can share
So come with me, love, from the graveyard
And this child, and this life, we will share.
~11~
BONESPEAR BLUES
(Not every song can be serious!)
Well the waerns chew the wrappings on my hilt
And my boots are filled with river silt
The eidos howling gets me down
And the dybbuks put me on the ground -
I am stuck in Bonespear with nothing to lose
I got them undead-a-hunting, baby blue bunting, got to scratch for favor blues!
The damn tower's shakin and I kiss the dust
The eidolons swarming with unholy lust
I want to see sunlight but that can't be
Cause old Voln hisself has it out for me -
I am stuck in Bonespear with nothing to lose
I got them swordarm-a-flailing, undead-a-wailing, got to spin that bloody globe blues!
Now Pappy wanted me in that bathhouse gang
But Mama cried, "Please don let my baby hang!"
"You go to the monastery and do what is right,"
"And free poor undead to soar to the light!"
Well, Mama knows best, thats what they say
And thats what led me to where I am today
Sitting in North Market waiting for a raise
Damn clerics having the happier day!
Cause I was stuck in Bonespear with nothing to lose -
I got them beat like a mule, empaths got my jewels, what a damn fool, I am...
Blues...
~12~
[FLAGGED FOR VULGARITY]ANSWERING VILLANELLE
(To someone who no longer exists, and may have always been an illusion)
A sword of living flame? We're not at war,
I'd rather be enchanted by your gaze -
Before that gaze masks can endure no more.
In realms of thought, from forest to the shore,
We wove our love throughout a thousand days.
A sword of living flame? We're not at war.
Poetry our dance, we danced the score,
And always could I feel your vision blaze -
Before that gaze masks can endure no more.
Never would I thought I could have more,
With more than words your blazing soul to graze,
A sword of living flame? We're not at war.
It's now illusion, caution I ignore.
My eyes in equal passion to yours raise ...
Before that gaze masks can endure no more.
And here we are, and may I yet restore,
Serenity alike in touch and phrase -
A sword of living flame? We're not at war,
Before your gaze masks must endure no more.
~13~
DREAMING DESTINY
Beneath the silver light I sing,
A keening for some future pain -
And wrought within the moonlit rain,
A threnody of despairing song.
Wrapped four-fold thick in mystery,
A dreamer's world which torn apart,
Revealed the dreamer's inner heart,
The mysteries of night prolong.
Where black stars blaze in amber night,
And whispered promises apace,
To salve the wounds with silvered grace,
And set right that was wrong.
No mercy in the fickle moons,
Surrounding in a lambent ring,
With all the dreamers suffering,
For when we lack a choice.
To rinse the darkness from our souls,
And empty death, and come to see,
For what our waking lives should be,
When dreams are given voice.
To set the meaning for our days,
And trade laments for newer tunes,
Could we ask a different boon?
Or wish for nearer joys?
~14~
THE EMPATH'S LAMENT
A warm glow washed upon the darkened lane
And voices carried out into the night
She waited there a while, and looking down
At hands with scars and knowledge dearly bought.
Who had not found a touch of what she'd sought
In lonely years through village, sea and town
For service was her joy -- healing, her light
But that was not why this dark night she came
"Maybe here," she thought, "Oh here, at last!"
She mused, her fingers resting on the door
"There'll be what I've ached for all my days,"
"There are so many folk and people here"
"And laughter, joking, friendship and good cheer -"
"Oh great and gentle goddess!" did she pray
"Please let me be so lonely nevermore,"
"Give me a family, end my soul's long fast!"
The healer walked inside with quiet step
And held her satchel tight unto her breast
She marveled and exulted at the scene
Of revelers -- With hope, she closed the door -
Leaving her fears behind beneath the moon
"Empath, ho!" She saw the speaker beam
"You're just what's needed for tomorrow's quest."
"We leave at dawn! So hark - do not forget!"
She nodded to the man, yet held her breath
But as he turned back to his waiting friends
She craved for yet more than a terse command
None looked her way for more than just a glance.
Her heart sunk within her - In a trance,
"This time is like the rest - I understand"
"I've here and always been a fool," she said,
"They want no more from me than ward from death."
She knew too well what the next morn would bring
The screams, the pouring blood, the pain, the fear
She'd seen it every day her waking life
But stronger still were vows that she had made -
To never, on her honor, let life fade
To knit and heal the bodies torn by strife.
As, loved by none, she slumbered with no cheer
While the hall below with song did ring -
The morning dawned a fair one, and the lass
Gathered to her party with a frown
The leader sent her straight back to the rear
"We've got to keep YOU safe! Just come along"
"Well shout for you should anything go wrong!"
Thus the calls that day, so cavalier
"Heal me!" "Take this bleeder!" "Willems down!"
"Do you have some leaf left?" "Where's that grass?"
Her rapier could have been sheathed, for the good
It did in war that day against the foe
Oh yes! that day, none of her party died
For even in despair her skill prevailed.
The quest ended in triumph, and they hailed
All their friends whom back in town they spied
In wine they toasted every kill they'd known
While off and to the side, forgot, she stood.
They gifted to her gold, and hearts aflame
With song and mirth they left her there alone
To seek out war of some less deadly kind
She stood all by herself at tavern door.
She knew that if the chance came by once more
To join for questing with those folk she'd find
She'd pray that next time she might find a home -
And once -
Just once -
They'd ask of her her name.
~15~
FINALS VILLANELLE
(2nd place, 8th Bardfest)
I cannot claim obscurity!
In my brilliant finery prate
And so embrace pomposity!
For decked in violet, as you see,
I prance about in kingly state.
I cannot claim obscurity!
Why, this fine stage could be for me!
For bards like me, entirely great,
And so embrace pomposity!
Farewell dim meadows, greetings, Sea!
Your mighty grandeur is my fate
I cannot claim obscurity!
Can my magnificent panoply
Be too much for Lorminstra's Gate?
And so embrace pomposity?
Aye, I confess! Could anyone be
More a foppish reprobate?
I cannot claim obscurity,
And so embrace pomposity!
~16~
FOR A WEDDING NEVER HELD
Her hair is as black as the midnight sky,
Her eyes are the green of the sea,
Her raiment as red as the morning sun -
How can she cherish me?
The dancing foam on the rushing waves
Are no whiter than her smile -
And her laughter on the eastern wind
Brings solace o'er each mile.
Her hand on my cheek is the gentle caress
Of the wind in the sails above -
The touch of her lips is scarlet fire,
Awakening me to love.
Here, she draws me - here, today -
To fold me in embrace,
To hide and to hold, to gather in love,
This company to this place
For here today, I pledge my troth,
Under Deep Heaven's dome
In a safer haven, on the shore,
A mariner come home.
~17~
OLD SAILOR MAN
The tavern was filled with my friends and the flames
And if wood could sing, then a brave song and wild
Would ring from its rafters, and walls give the names
Of passersby present and past, man from child.
There sat past that circle of reverie bright
A man old and withered in oilskins and cap
The cruel years had stolen his speed and keen sight
His hands showed the marks of both net and of trap.
I really can't say why the sailor man drew
All my attention with cronies so near
But I stared as on an old pipe he blew
And craned myself over so that I might hear:
Inside every sailor, you'll find a young man -
Itchin' to get to sea soon as he can.
He dreams of pretty girls, dusky and brown
And he longs to get clear of his boring home town
Yes, he longs to get clear of his boring home town.
"Aye, it wuz wit' Cap'n Tara I sailed,
An' a fair sailor wuz she," I heard the man say.
"We'd a fine and taut ship and never we bailed,
Nor yet the lash or the starter would play."
"Ye'd not ken to see me, but I wuz a fine lad
All lively and quick-like!" I heard the man say.
"I'd up the ratlines as neat as yer dad,
And spy forty miles on a clear an' bright day."
Inside every sailor - black, brown or grey
Are the brave vessels that sail far away.
Beyond the horizon, ahead and behind
Will what they're searching for be what they find?
Will what they're searching for be what they find?
I listened intently at the old sailor's tale.
Why exactly that was, I can't really tell.
His story was plain - - as a minstrel he'd fail.
He spoke of no more than of wind, wave and bell.
"Ar, but them's was brave days, and brave times we led!
We's got lots of loot!" I heard the man say.
"The tradin' wuz good, an' the grub we wuz fed
Wuz allus the better than on shore in the day!"
"Well, 'tis time t'take in the slack of me jaw
I bids ye g'night," I heard the man say.
And he took up his cap, and he spat out his chaw
In taking his leave of us, into the spray.
Inside every sailor, you'll find an old man
With rose-colored memories of where he began
For he sailed the oceans, to ports of renown
Now he longs to get back to his boring home town
Yes he longs to get back to his boring home town.
The door closed behind him and shut out the rain
And the misted night echoed in my shadowed thought
For I pondered on what I learned here again
The valuable lessons an old sailor taught.
It's not always the heroes who make up the land
Nor yet the dark villains of epic and song
Some times it's a sailor from sea and from sand
Whose tale is the truer as night comes along.
~18~
PASSING OF THE LORDS OF ARKATI
(Preliminary piece, 9th Bardfest)
The gossamer threads of memory bind the heart and soul in turn
And with every severed strand shall the memories likewise fade
My lands and age are dead and lost and shall not now return
For the Gods of old have passed through night to fail before your day
The Keys of Crystal shimmering in the darkness like a star
Clasped tightly in Lorminstra's hand to ward and guard the Gates
Has she died herself? Now Lorminstra is the bar
And Guardian of oblivion, divider of our fates --
Fair Oleani bound me fast in wedlock with my brides
She cast her hair - a net of gold - to cloak us with her gift
But she is gone And so are they, cast off into the tides
Of memory and vanished love, through Times and hearts lost rift
"Dance, Ivas, dance," they used to call, and reveled through the night
And shuddered to feel Onar's shade or spy Arachne's web
Once Voln's great Order dared the fates and warred against Unlife
Now only in our swords he lives! His world and time are dead.
Ronan the Nightwalker, and Phoen's golden sun
Eonake's Reach, Gosaena's crown - your rule is lost and done!
Tilamaire shall sing no more, nor Kai's Triumphant Song
Be heard in a harsher age where they cannot now belong -- !
The gossamer threads of memory bind the heart and soul in turn
And with every severed strand shall the memories likewise fade
My lands and age are dead and lost and shall not now return
For the Lords of Arkati passed through night to fail before your day.
~19~
BALLAD OF THE DARK ALLIANCE PEONS
(DA Concert Series, Solhaven, 5106)
(In the thick of the undeclared war between the Dark Alliance of Solhaven and what was
colloquially called the Resistance, I held a series of concerts featuring satiric songs lampooning
the DA and its members. It brought a welcome degree of laughter to a shadowed time in
Solhaven and gave the forces of righteousness a needed morale lift. Here are a few selections.)
"It has been brought to my attention that I have been focusing unduly on prominent members of the Alliance such as Mekthros, Wulfhen and Naamit. A petition has been received, therefore, byLady Ravenswing and myself from the Provisional Revanchist Left and Right Wing of the Dark Alliance."
"Their grievance, such as it is, is that we focus too much on the principals of the Dark Alliance, and not enough on the footsoldiers who, without glory or preeminence, toil on in the shadow of mightier members. Lady Ravenswing and myself are cognizant of their grievance, and believe that it should not remain unaddressed. Therefore, I would like to present for you this evening what we call the Ballad of the Dark Alliance Peons."
See the Dark Alliance
Swaggering down the street
Looking for a victim
Blood and screams are sweet!
A wizard with a runestaff
He looks quite frail and old
Lets pick on him... Oh no, lads, run!
He's casting Minor Cold!
Oh, look - a little Aelotoi
Now, that's an easy catch!
Watch out! She's snapped a lockpick!
That broken end could scratch!
At least let s kick the pelican
What? Are you raving mad?
Just look at the beak on that thing!
Besides, its breath smells bad.
Well, here's an orphan puppy
That can't hurt us, right?
Well, but it's got its milk-teeth -
Who d want a nasty bite?
See the Dark Alliance
Crawling in the dust
The peg-legged cat just beat them up
They're bawling fit to bust!
"Thank you for listening to this ballad. And remember. The Dark Alliance Peons are evil too. Cower before them every so often. It is so little to do to salve their self-esteem. Let them know you care. Thank you again."
~20~
STUMPY AND THE JACKAL
(DA Concert Series, Solhaven, 5106)
Hark, all ye sailor-men, and sailor-lasses today!
And hark as well to you landsmen, come listen to my lay.
For of the greatest combats that ever the Haven knew
The mightiest of all is in this song I'll sing to you.
Of the many small accomplishments the Dark Alliance bragged
(And in such boasting, after all, they seldom ever lagged)
The proudest of them all - - folks said - - was of a mighty pet
A Jackal fierce and terrible, a veritable daemon's get!
They staked their mascot to the ring, all challengers to face
And sent out their defiances from Ta'Vaalor to the Trace
For any opposition their champion would gnaw to size
And backing up their boasts stood a million for the prize.
Now a certain scraggly cat is the pride of our wharfs and docks
He sups on nails and roofing tacks! For a scratching post, the stocks
The longshoremen and doxies, and the crimps and cooks alike
Staked their silvers on the prowess of Stumpy, their enemy to strike.
At last the matter was mooted, the battle to appear
At seven bells that very eve upon North Market Pier
The cat sauntered through Ebondrift, to take his final squat
Thence to the Pier and into the ring with his ungainly trot.
The wagers on the combat flew swift as a clipper ship
And Gertie earned small fortunes making book on every slip
Mekthros wagered his manhood, and the Brat Prince matched the bet
With a tarnished, varnished copper - no more could Mekkie get!
Over in the red corner, the Jackal snarled and howled
Across from it, the peg-leg cat stropped his claws and yowled
The Alliance cheered for their hero, and the sailors for theirs, and more
In waves that crashed like rushing surf upon forgotten shores.
The Jackal puffed its chest out and let loose a fearsome bray
(If that was a sound you'd call fearsome. More like some lambs at play!)
And it scratched its claws and somewhere else I really daren't tell
While good old Stumpy, unconcerned, awaited the Captain's bell.
The bell for the round resounded, and the Jackal sprang to its call
(If "springing" you would deem it. More like a drunkard's fall.)
Its fangs enfoamed and brandished, its teeth bared in a smile
Its breath could stun banaltra at a distance of a mile.
But like the revenging whirlwind, the Jackal sought its mark
(While Stumpy just plain sat there, a-lounging in the dark)
(And set himself to groom his paw, and groomed his pegleg to boot)
No one was going to deem the Jackal shy in this dispute!
The tripod tabby licked his paw with unconcerned disdain
The Jackal might as well have been on the end of a four-foot chain
He cleaned his ears and groomed his tail and smoothed his whiskers out
And when the Jackal blundered nigh, he calmly smote a clout.
The cheers rang out and groans as well as chanting filled the house
But Stumpy was in no hurry... he'd found a tasty mouse!
The Jackal foamed and slavered and took a threatening pose
But Stumpy merely yawned -- annoyed -- and bloodied the doglet's nose.
Now it is true that I am mild of habit and of tune
So I'll cut short this battle scene, and really, none too soon
Suffice to say with mournful howls South Haven's alleys filled
While the blissful purring in the ring speaks best on who was killed!
The cooperage had never had a better day than this
And the cooper's wife and all his men were wreathed in sheerest bliss
Until the dusk the Alliance wore barrels to hide their shame
For even with pawning the clothes on their backs they'd no silver to their name.
Red clouds in the sunset, with storms for the morning tide
And red eyes in the taverns, where the Haven's finest abide
For many a flagon was raised that night to the Cat of All The Cats!
The conqueror of the jackals and the bane of soap and rats!
So come all ye lasses, and sailors from the Main
And listen to the lesson that's told in this refrain
Our undefeated champion of alley brawling might
Is our faithful Stumpy, dining on jackal meat tonight!
For though the Guild may kiss the rumps of Jackals and their ilk
And humor their lickspittle lackeys, and tremble in their silks
Rulers they dare to call themselves, when they're no more than tools
The fact remains - in Solhaven Town, it's the peg-legged cat who rules!
~21~
BALLAD OF ERYAEL
(DA Concert Series, Solhaven, 5106)
(The chief villain of the day was the so-called "Rose Lord" Eryael, a minion of Mularos sent to plague the land. This mocking duet between Eryael and his wife was performed with the able assistance of Lady Landrai.)
Eryael:
"Ahem! Oh my wife, are you loafing again?
For I am the master of this, my domain
Here, wash this robe, it's so bloody it's ripe
And where is my supper, my slippers and pipe?"
(Eryael's wife paces furiously back and forth before standing rigid with her legs apart. Placing her hands on her hips, she stares at Eryael with flame-heated eyes and points a single finger towards him)
Eryael's Wife:
"Oh, Erry! How often have I told you before
Leave the damn manacles OUTSIDE the door!
You've blood on your clothing and gore in your hair
And... how in His name did you get ichor THERE?"
(Eryael's wife throws her hands in disgust and storms in a circle about Eryael, staring at his backside as she sings the last word.)
(Eryael regards his wife curiously, giving his head a small disbelieving shake, and sings very slowly and deliberately, as if to a child:)
Eryael:
"Hah, hum, my wife, now none of your gloom
Your contributions are with needle and broom!
Remember I walk with Mularos grace -
So tend to your chores and forget not your place."
(Eryael's wife moves towards Eryael, points a finger at him and starts waggling it.)
Eryael's Wife:
"You never come cuddle me, we never go out
Our carriage is rusting, our cottage forgot
There's been no vacation in a decade or two -
Just torture, more torture, what's a housewife to do?"
"You don't bring me flowers, I get scalps instead
Why, even the kitten you brought me was dead!
I wish I'd known years ago how it would be
I'd have married the baker - much better for me!"
(Eryael stares narrowly at his wife, his chill gaze traveling up and down her form, and furrows his brow.)
Eryael:
"What are you saying? How can all this be?
Woman, be careful in defiance of me!
Do I not reign at the right hand of Pain?
It's therefore your duty to launder again!"
(Eryael turns up his nose, hauteur pouring from his gaze.)
(Eryael's wife moves off to the side, holding a conversation with herself. She holds out each hand with the palms up and tilts them up and down as if weighing something.)
Eryael's Wife:
"I should have realized when on our first date
A victim's maiming was why you were late
And dear me, how could a maiden expect?
That you'd bring me to a chirurgeon's foyer to neck?"
(Eryael murmurs, "And that was a problem?")
(Eryael's wife's eyes shine with anger as she stares at him, daring him to come closer. She slowly starts towards him. As she stands in front of him, she plants a finger in his chest, emphasizing each word with a poke.)
Eryael's Wife:
"I was so silly - if I'd heeded Mama
I'd have married a snake-kisser - cleaner by far
For serpents are poisonous and their bite is sure
But ... STAY WHERE YOU ARE! Don't track blood on the floor!"
(Eryael halts in his tracks, skidding slightly on the gravel.)
Eryael:
"Ungrateful wench, that you say this of me
Why, I'm the best husband that you'll ever see!
By Mularos's favor, we're quite unencumbered
And I even husband you one night every hundred!"
Eryael's Wife:
"Now religion I know is important to you
And yes, you're ambitious, but listen, now do!
I haven't complained for too much of our life
But you WILL perhaps notice that I am your wife!
Isn't it enough that your robe's soaked with blood
Must we have rents in a copious flood?
You're letting your clothes go to ruin and rack
Will you please stop your swearing, and who is Kinshack?"
(Eryael tosses a vicious glare at his wife, his features a mask of outrage, and shakes the robes and stick at her.)
Eryael:
"Kinshack is no consequence, neither are you
So shut your cadaverous gum flapping, do!
You've had your orders, now carry them out
Mularos's high clerics word you can't flout!"
(Eryael turns away from his wife, ignoring her.)
Eryael's Wife:
"Some women get diamonds, some women get jewels
You give me blood-crusted bone flaying tools!
Some women get charming vacations for two
Some have manly men! And I'm stuck with you?"
(Eryael's wife stares accusingly at him and strides forward, pushing him back with each step until she has him cornered. )
Eryael's Wife:
"Your endless catastrophes make my life hard
And still you're no closer to getting the shard!
I'm tired of roses and sickened of thee!
Oh, Leya's dear Amazons - make room for me!"
(Eryael's wife gives him a slap across the face with the back of her hand!)
(Eryael's wife - turning on her heels - storms out.)
(Eryael slowly, piteously, sinks to his knees...)
Eryael:
"But... but... my dinner's uncooked, and no washing begun
And my laundry's exhausted and my tights have a run
Oh, lovey, my dewdrop, please come back..."
(Eryael sighs bitterly.)
"... oh, hell.
I suppose I can borrow a goat from Licel."
~22~
FIDDLER'S GREEN
(Finalist, Poet's Seat competition)
My schooner and my friends all left this year's past Ivastaen,
And of full fifty bonny crew I'm left here to remain.
They have all gone up to a place that I have never seen.
My mates are singing sailor songs on the lawn at Fiddler's Green.
They're singing and a-laughing, boys, and drinking like a queen -
And dancing till the stars burn out up there on Fiddler's Green.
It was a stormy night and day, but the captain warn't perturbed.
He took less note of wind or spray than a dolphin or a bird.
What cared he if the waves' cascade was a mast's height o'er the beam?
He had no time for silly fears before dawn on Fiddler's Green.
Till dawning time upon the grass behind the roses' screen,
What cares a sailor for the past upon the Fiddler's Green?
But mountains crumble 'fore a storm, and a schooner's made of wood.
And wind and wave don't give a damn for what you understood.
For safety in a gale's no gift and none will intervene,
When you're drowned just like a ruddy fool and barred from Fiddler's Green!
A ghastly fate for a mariner, to forever be unclean --
And never join in the merriment on the shores of Fiddler's Green!
My friends all passed on in that night and I was left to mourn,
A-hanging to a shattered spar and left there all forlorn -
Until a lobster smack came by and now I reminisce -
And ventured on the sea no more from that day forth to this.
My lost shipmates, farewell, adieu! With all my heart I mean
To sing and dance with you someday on the lawn of Fiddler's Green.
Wavedancer's grace, save me a mug! Hell, save me seventeen!
We'll all get paralytic drunk when we meet on Fiddler's Green!
~23~