By Patrick Lionsbane
When the stars danced, awoke did she
Petals deep purple, the enchanting flower
Fluttering on the wind, protected by her tree
The lonely maiden looked beyond her sylvan tower
By the moon's grace, looked up did he
Waters silver and blue, the young river
Prowling through the land, heartlessly free
The proud youth flowed atop his earthen giver
Fair flower, dance for me tonight? - Asked he
For a color so vivid should not go to waste
In the darkness, your light answers my plea
For your scent has the world never been graced
Dance I for you? Asked she
Then there must be something you shall give
Tell me stories of the world you see
Wild river, tell me of the life you live
I have seen men of steel and blood - Answered he
Of death which turns my waters red
Beauties and their visages captured by me
And use my waters to bathe their babe's golden head
By the changing winds, my constant and faithful servants
I have seen wars, famine, death, and despair
Yet it is Luck, whom I've ferried on my currents
From her I've known peace, joy, life and hope most fair
Gods desire that for them should I serve
For I run fast and strong throughout this land
But it is my freedom and my pride that I preserve
For no one rules me, I answer only to my own command
But - interjected he
Beauty like yours is rare and few
Come, dance, do not hide from me
So gift to you I give the morning dew
Her dance caught the river in a bind
He stopped and watched the beauty unfurl above
Words and thought he could not find
As the river stilled and fell in love
Fall to me and into my embrace - begged he
To sweeten my water for all of time
We shall bestow life to all those we see
Together our days will be sublime
The flower shook her purple petals, said
Fair youth, it is not your nature to be stilled
For one day I will find you gone and fled
Promises forgotten, you will never be fulfilled
But I love you, cried the river, a love ardent and strong
And if I can not have your regard I shall die
Without your light and scent, I will not last long
Would not death be the saddest goodbye?
And I love you, admitted the flower, since long ago
You who harvested with autumn and danced with spring
You who lazed in summer and slept beneath the winter snow
But fall I can not, for I fear the hurt you will bring
Blooms chased after your embrace before
Their scent colored your waters lilac and gold
Yet abandon and think not of them evermore
As you tire of their taste when their scents grew old
By the gods, the river declared, I vow to you, fair bloom
That only your color and scent I will hold most dear
And if I am false then to eternal despair will I myself doom
So fall to me, there is nothing to fear
With you, promised the river, we'll visit all earthly delights
The wind will carry us to foreign bays
I will hold you and show you marvelous sights
Your life I will nourish, I promise always
Your oath is song to me, the flower said
And if you remain faithful, I will fall into your embrace
Dance for you always where ever I'm led
I will live this life at your pace
And so carried by the winds the bloom did fall
For she loved the river with all her heart
And with her fragrance she answered his arduous call
For years they lived, happily and never apart
Until the day the river saw flowers more fair
In a land he had never been before
Forget did he, the promise to the flower in his care
And abandoned her on the bank, at death's door
The grass on which the dying, smiling flower lay
Asked her why she looked so happy as she was to die
Did the fading flower not see the fading day?
Death, after all was the saddest kind of goodbye
No, replied she, the saddest goodbye is to forget
The promises, the love, the good, and the pains
The joy, the laughter, the sorrow and the regret
When the promises fade and darkness remains
My lover, the river, had left me long before now
He that remained was a stranger, nothing more
My end today is nothing compare to his broken vow
Death is a joy, and freedom I see at his door
She sang - So from lonely branch the foolish bloom did fall
To love a river who cared naught
And give and give and give her all
Only to watch the river flow away, all their love forgot.
But Death pitied the fading bloom at his feet
If you chose once more, what would you choose?
The flower smiled, I wish the River and I never did meet
A love like this is one I could afford to lose
His decisions, Death promised, he will one day regret
Will you not wish to be there when his heart returns?
I, said the flower, only wish to forget
And let love die and this longing to burn
Death bowed and honored her wish as well
Carried her away, to be reborn anew on the old branch high
Back to the land where in peace she could dwell
And never think of the river who flowed by and by
The river soon realized all blooms their color fast lost
And remember that bloom whose color never did fade
Did he realize his gains was not worth the terrible cost
And rushed back to the place where the mistake was made
Too late, he knew, as his vow unleashed his curse
She was long gone, only to have branded his heart
Foolish river, for nothing in the world could reverse
The mortal wound she left him when in death did they part
Without her, his waters tasted bitter and ill
Those who touched his poison met their death
He wandered the earth, weak, having lost his will
Longing for her honeyed scent on the wind's breath
And so he went back to the tree where she had grown
And saw the great tree dying, again his heart filled with regret
No flower could compare to the color she had shown
Yet, he spied a lone bud glowed with a light he could never forget
She stood atop, dozing, at the edge of night
Was it she? He asked as he drank her in from afar
He gathered beneath the blackened branches and silver moonlight
Though she was close, she farther than the nearest star
Help me! Cried the river to the wind
Do you not see that my love sleeps high in the sky?
You must carry her to me, your power you must lend
The wind stayed stilled and said with a quiet sigh
Is she still the same her of yesteryears?
She is reborn anew, and in your embrace again she may thrive
But you were the source of her pain and her tears
And would be again, if she remembers your cruelty when she was alive
The river was silent and knew he could not call
For where she grew he could never go
She had chosen to forget, his love and all
And into quiet oblivion he would flow
So he begged lady luck to save his unfortunate mate
He asked her to make his waters golden and to heal the tree
In exchange, he offered his freedom, luck's eternal servant would be his fate
After-all what is freedom, when the one he loved was not free?
No longer wild, no longer free would he flow
But his contentment soared as the tree revived
He lasting fate his former lover would never come to know
How a wild river traded his heart so that his love survived
Sometimes, on the coldest of nights, he would hear her sing
Of lost memories that faded across the years
Of lovers who knew not what forgetting brings
And of her new lover, the night, who comforted her unknown fears
With life anew, her glowing colors will never fade
Danced with the Night, a queen on her throne
He lost her forever, only regret and despair stayed
And chose to watch from afar, a fallen king eternally alone
And so the lonely river watched as her new lover came at her call
His flower who now cared for the River naught
Having lost and lost and lost his all
Watched as the flower love another, all their love forgot