Isaiah, one of our readers, wrote the actual words of the ballad, and...it's amazing! I'm humbled, thank you.

SONG OF ISONEI

by Isaiah Joel Oakley Le Istya

✦

A child in a golden wood hears a song,

and listens to the peaceful melody. 

Thither then he follows the voice leading

to the Temple of Zezen, and further,

to the blessed well of fairest Isonei,

Naera of the troth, whose kind voice, as rare

as an addonel's, sweet and beguiling,

Remanded parental rule and beckoned!

Drawing e'er closer, the boy saw her tail

like endless links o' fine glittering maille,

And though he knew it not, young Matello,

met his eternal love and truest friend.

✦

At first, they were no more than close playmates,

frolicking in the crystal clear, small pool.

But as the nights turned to more than laughter,

He fell in love with her pure heart and soul!

She loved him back with innocent intent,

They clung to each other from Spring till frost;

Embracing, kissing, laughing–unabashed;

two uniting as one in the blessed font.

She taught him how to call her from the well,

and showered him with cool sparkling dewdrops.

She changed the water as per his liking,

cool in the summer, in the winter, warm.

✦

They made love beneath the tranquil surface,

a refuge deep in winter's coldest blight

And those "freezing nights" were the most carefree!

Under the paleness of the soft starlight,

she guarded young lovers' cast-in wishes.

and in each shining bauble sensed intent.

"'Tis she who curses dishonest unions,"

maidens cried, when they tossed jewels into her lair.

"Bring me luck! Bring me joy! May love be fair!" 

Heed our wishes, kind Lady of the Well.

✦

But all good things cannot last forever,

and the long days of bliss came to an end

Or so discovered older Matello,

After he killed an innocent by chance;

a child, trampled to death beneath his horse.

The once smooth water shrank now from his sight.

Despite the great power Isonei had,

she could not cleanse his conscience of the blood.

Softly then, she moaned and withdrew her trust,

gods know what she felt in her broken heart,

when he washed his guilty blood in her font,

Sundering the purity that bound them.

✦

He saw her once more after his misdeed,

on a night o' so many years ago,

a sad reflection in the blood-stained pool,

His stigma holds them forever apart,

no more would the lovers embrace and laugh,

In Zeren's temple, the red aftermath,

of soldier's task, of Matello's grief,

from which no fair naera can find relief.

But still Matello comes to make his peace,

hoping to, from his guilt, find sweet release.

He waits for Isonei in the shadows,

but will never again see her frolic,

Such is the price of blood on mortal hands.

~ End ~