WATER SONG

--From Stories of The First Mermaid Gatherment,

   Readings, Intonements and Melodies of Leauodii



"Listen oh Blue Children of the Fishes

for I have seen the follies of your bearers

the Song of the Deep has crept pas' their tongues

and your ears I see are sad for the melodie once again;

I know it whole,

but your would share the years of Bearigg the Great Haunter

before I could finish to suffice.

I will give what I have given before

and you will share the knowledge of your mothers and fathers.

But sadly, I fear you too will forget. . .

But lo! to our melodie,

perchance my voice escapes me!" 



"Canst one know

what was before the seas?

I know not,

and surely you share the plight.

But water carries words

and deep in them is our secret,

our pact with the Light."



"After the twilight of the World,

when the Making twas done,

The Orphans of the Landlight did come,

spreading themselves with their winds over all the lands.

Three lonely souls, frightened souls,

one twicht' we know as Mother, a woman,

the only and first,

cast 'way by her brothers

for her crime of difference."



"Her brothers,

they ran 'til out of air-breath,

through hill and vallee.

One chose the great dry mountains as home,

feeling closer to the One True Light.

He prais'd himself for his decision,

laughing loud and long at his brother

who twas settled in the lowest o' lands,

feeling that his humility

twas of more importance."



"Oft' mountain-brother would chide vallee-brother,

boasting of greatness,

of being closest to the Light,

granting of no permissiveness to his brother

to climb the great rocks,

to see the first sunrises with him,

and for this vallee-brother felt a great lonely sadness."



"Through this time,

land-sister o'erheard her one brother's boasts

an' her other brother's sadness.

She was truly broken of heart

that they could not share of the lands.

She turned aback and walked far as she could,

'til twas no land at all.

Here, she came upon a great blueness,

an unsteadiness 

and she felt gladness in her heart,

for the water,

it sang a melodie true to her soul.

The words o' this song are as old as the One True Light, my children,

and you will feel as happy as I

when twas sung to me the first."



""Come closer", cried the sea,

"Come closer, follow me.

Let me show you what you'd be,

if you'd only follow me.

I sing not of one great vallee,

of one great mount

for I sing of all, all in me.

I share your lonliness,

your sadness, your fear.

I sing it all as one great tear.

Turn to me, 

and I'll share a secret, my child,

only you could bear.

Come closer and see,

what we together,

forever,

could be.

Follow me, follow me. . . .""



"And when the land-sister,

whom we know as our only true Mother,

left the land o' above,

and embraced our sea,

she found a new light,

warm and tender as the One True Light,

and it sang praises to that Light,

and she became an Orphan-no-more.

And she truly found what she could be.

We are all the product of that holy marriage,

that union,

and we hold it secret."



"At this time,

vallee-brother became lonely for his sister,

whom he had disgraced not long before.

He wished to know the sound of another,

and set off for her.

But, the search, twas no easy for him."



"Vallee-brother searched all the great lands for a sign,

as the land went through many changes.

He felt great warmth,

and for that twas happy,

but he also cried in the great colds,

as our gift to the skies

rained down in white pureness,

giving him great sadness.

He wished for a home away from this,

an' to be with his sister again."



"As he came closer to the sea, 

our Water-Mother sang with the sea,

and that melodie captured vallee-brother's humble soul.

He looked  into the deep

and saw himself, 

looking back.

And when Water-Mother looked from the sea and saw him, 

crying her name and giving his tears to her new home,

she rush'd up and embrac'd him, 

and showed him the ways of the Water.

And that is how our Water-Father was given unto us, children.

And when Water-Father saw the lowest of water-vallees

and highest of water-mountains,

he was again happy,

and swore to share it all with Water-Mother."



"Soon mountain-brother became lonely,

for there was no-one to boast at,

no one to feel greatness over,

only himself.

An' the search for his brother and sister never ended,

for he found them nowhere.

When he came upon the great Water,

no song sang to his soul.

He turned aback from the sea

and walked away,

heaviness in his heart."



"Wishing he had ne'er tried to be closer to the Light,

he began to dig a hole in the land,

deeper and deeper,

'til the heat scorch'd his soul,

making it cruel

an' full of jealousy

for his brother and sister's happiness."



"The One True Light watch'd all this closely,

an' felt sadness as well,

for his lands, 

high and low,

were empty.

He began anew to make brothers and sisters from the lands,

from the very earth, indeed.

And they shared all of the qualities of the Orphans of the Light,

making them our Land-brothers,

filled with laughter and anger,

jealousy and fear

and love."



"But, my brethren-children,

Blue Children o' the Vast Depths,

we have a secret,

an' we cannot share it with our Land-brothers.

We are the unseen to them,

guardians of our own Lights.

One day,

we will join them,

and Oh,

what a gathering twill be!

For the songs of the Land will be sung with our Water-songs,

an' twill be truer than ever,

an' mountain-brother-in-the-deep-earth will rise up

an' join us,

all will be free to wander together again,

be it in the seas or on the lands,

an' the One True Light 

will shine on us all." 



copyright 1997,

Steven Woods

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