77 The Bard's Lament

I'm taking a day's break from continuing the "Cave of the Black Dog", and offer this piece, inspired by Susan Ersinghaus Measures of the Week: Sunday

Of course, you must imagine the playing of a lute at Keppler's Inn, a roomful of patrons drinking ale and tossing coppers about. Oh, and of course, the bard, and his lilting voice...

Once a man from the country I come from

A tale of a dragon he told;

Of a priest from the church in the town,

Who warned the village of a message he found;

O townsfolk, I've beheld the sign of the dragon,

Painted with pain and its wails,

My fate in god's hand has been written,

But it is for the church that I fear,

For our god no dragon of darkness reveres.

And late in the evening the wails came,

And late in the night came the flame,

The dragon had come and had taken,

The Church's chalice of jewels and gold.

And loud the laments of the high priest,

The church's great treasure he lost;

Fear not, for we love you our preacher,

And our god must be given his due.

A month passed, and then yet another,

And a gift did the townspeople make

Of a chalice of jewels and gold

To their priest and their church and their god.

And late in the evening the wails came,

And late in the night came the flame,

The dragon had come and had taken,

The Church's chalice of jewels and gold

And loud the laments of the high priest,

The church's great treasure he lost;

Fear not, for we love you our preacher,

and our god must be given his due.

A month passed, and then yet another,

And a gift did the townspeople make

Of a chalice of jewels and gold

To their priest and their church and their god.

Now did the man who told me this tale,

Keep watch over chalice and church

Each evening in the low pews he waited,

For the beast to make himself known.

And before sunrise early one morning,

The doors to the church they did open,

And the church priest did close them behind.

The teller of this tale did keep hidden,

To watch what began to unfold.  A chain

By a wall it was hidden, and the priest

With ardor and fervor he pulled.

And the altar did shake and did swivel,

And to the teller revealed,

A stairway below to a hallway,

An underground for most blessed of plans;

And next did the priest take the chalice

The chalice of jewels and gold.

And minutes did pass by like hours,

When the tale-teller did now behold,

The priest returning to the altar with fire,

and with fire the altar did burn.

No chalice of gold and of jewels,

Had this priest to the altar restored,

But twice he pulled on the great chain,

And to its place the altar returned.

And late in the evening the wails

And late in the night came the flame,

The priest had come and had taken,

The Church's chalice of jewels and gold.

And loud the laments of the dragon,

The church's treasure he lost;

Fear not, for we love you our preacher,

and our god must be given his due.