THERE IS A SECRET, KEEP IT WELL

There is a Secret few will know
Until that day it rises up,
For buried deep beneath the Earth
Lie coiling serpents in a cup,

Long before came history
To marque out frontiers of the past,
There toiled and bled unspoken days
That men today should flee aghast,

Wonders weird and terrors dark
Did stalk about the world those nights,
When those we’d hardly recognize
Did marvels by their hoary might,

Too long in sand or sea or clay
Has lain the wreckage of their age,
But those with other eyes to see
May still by peerage time assuage,

Specters worn by passage deep
Spectacular in deathless climes
Have breached the wall of life again,
And up from Hell made dreadful climb;

I’ve watched from shores by looking glass
As all these things have sure approached,
As seas disgorge the ancient rimes
That feed those things that do encroach,

And man with gore and screams of pain
Will roil in grave and long revolt,
But to what end I cannot name
Of torture, doom, or final hope?

Chaos will man gather round
Calling for it from afar,
A Heart of Stone imperfect cut
Whose pulse does beat for blood bizarre,

Like nothing man thinks anymore
Except in Secrets buried deep,
When questioned if he is in truth
A Man like God, or that which creeps,

It is not for me to say
What Man will be or where he goes,
Knowing only that I watch
As man revisits with his Ghosts,

Yet this I’ll say and temper hard
With all I know of what’s no more,
The day comes swift when men will find
That death is what they least abhor…

 

because these things are engraven by Tome and Tomb

THE IAGO OF WESTEROS

BABY FINGERS (The Secret Song of Lord Petyr Baelish)

A HOARD DID I ENCOUNTER – THE LYRE’S SONG

The other day someone on a message board asked me what kind of song(s) I would compose for my new Bard (Talisfar) character to use during play. This is the song I wrote – to be played upon the lyre.

 

My gentle lords and ladies fill now up your cups
I’ll sing to you of ransom even as you sup
Far away in foreign lands I chanced upon a hoard
It was buried in the Earth full of rich reward

A cairn did I encounter, eat up now be free!
I’ll tell you of the horror I alone did see
A dreadful restless spirit lingered hard nearby
I sought a way around it, no passage could I find

I sat upon the cold earth pondering my fate
Sleep descended on me even as I ate
Tired I grew unnaturally, close the air did seem
Songs did fill the moonless night, the spirit so did sing

Fatigue did overtake me as the spirit sang
I realized only all too late the spirit’s trap had sprang
I was at her mercy; her cold touch fell on me
To all I was oblivious with no hope to flee

I do not know how I escaped, why she spared me so
She let me keep my breath and life, I was free to go
Yet her touch had spoiled me, all my goods were gone
I awoke with nothing at the coming of the dawn

As you drink and fête yourself now you know my lot
For you are all exhausted but I am fresh and hot
There are hoards of treasure, many things of gold
Some are far way you see and some are close I’m told

My gentle lord and ladies fill now up your dreams
Do not worry for yourselves while this song I sing
Yet, my performance now is ended, I’ve made my last appeal
As you dwell in slumber then away to home I’ll steal…