As early one morning
I rode down to Aquila
I passed a young beggar all covered in mud,
He stank of the
sewers, and glanced oft behind him,
But he caught at my stirrup, and called as I rode:
"O
friend, take my warning, and go not to Aquila,
The taxes are heavy, the people are
sad,
The guards they are cruel and the gallows are waiting,
It's filled with the hungry, the
sick, and the mad."
As under grey clouds I rode down towards Aquila
I passed a
dark rider with a hawk on his wrist,
His face was obsessed, and his eyes were a wolf's
eyes,
He rode out to stop me, his sword in his fist:
"O go not to Aquila, stranger, I warn
you,
There's evil in power, a man I would slay,
I come to take vengeance on the Bishop
who cursed us,
I'll have my revenge, although hell bar the way!"
As under eclipse
I rode down towards Aquila
I passed an old monk with a cup full of wine,
His eyes they
were clear, though his habit was filthy,
He barred me from passing, and spoke of a
sign:
"O go not to Aquila, for judgement is coming,
Sins will be punished, and shadowed
the sun,
Evil thrown down from the seat it corrupted,
Curses unravelled, and justice be
done!"
As under bright sunlight I rode down to Aquila
I met a fair lady with a face
like the day,
Her eyes were as clear as the hawk's high above me,
And she rode with her
love as we passed on the way,
"O go ye to Aquila, and ride through the city,
For darkness
is vanished and evil o'erthrown,
Neath sun and neath moon we may journey
unchanging,
Our curses all broken, my true love my own!"
DUET FOR NAVARRE AND ISABEAU
Navarre
I hold you by your jesses,
A hawk upon my wrist,
And yet you are my true
love
Whom I so often kissed,
Whether by sunlight or by moon
We always are apart,
The only thing I have of you
The memories in my
heart.
Chorus: (both)
And I can never touch you,
Can never
hold your hand,
Can never speak a word to you
That you will
understand,
As long as there is night and day,
Although my love is sure,
My form must change by sun and moon,
My hopes may not
endure.
Isabeau
I sometimes see your face, love,
In dawn's
unfolding light,
I know you for the black wolf
That walks with me by
night,
I walk the shadows patiently,
The moon my only sun,
Until
we two can meet again,
The curse at last be done.
Chorus:
(Both)
Navarre
But whether I am man or wolf
My heart is always
true:
Isabeau
And whether hawk or woman,
I never turn from
you:
Navarre
Though I must brave the gates of Hell
I swear this won't
endure:
Isabeau
And I shall stand beneath the sun
And in your arms
once more.
Chorus: (Both)
PHILIPPE
Honestly, soldier,
I'm totally innocent,
Never knew
anything,
Not even there,
Wouldn't consider
Touching your pocket,
Sentenced
to hanging?
That's hardly fair!
Come on now, Captain,
Why should I help
you?
I'm only a beggar,
No honour nor word,
All right, I'll consider,
I'm ready
to help you,
Whatever you ask,
Just please put down that sword!
Brother
Imperius,
Tell me the truth, now,
What is the reason
That I should be here?
Why
should I want to be
Trapped in this story,
Held here by loyalty,
Love, and by
fear?
Lady, I swear
I'll do all that I can for you,
Journey by daytime,
And
guard you by night.
You are the only
True beauty I've ever known,
Face of a man's
first love,
Eyes of pure light.
God, help me now
In this darkness at
midday,
Crawling through sewers
To rescue a friend,
Pity their true love,
Have
mercy upon us,
Let darkness break,
Bring the curse to an
end.
THE BISHOP
A face
as fine as porcelain,
Long hair as rich and pure as gold,
Her eyes as pure as falling
rain:
Another man's, to have and hold.
I swear by all the powers of hell
If I can't have
her
No man shall.
She sent my presents back, untouched,
When I approached,
she turned away,
She chose another for her love,
I swore this insult to repay.
I swear
by all the powers of hell
If I can't have her
No man shall.
They fled by day, they
fled by night,
Neath rising moon and setting sun:
I called a curse upon their heads
To
last till day and night be done.
I swear by all the powers of hell
If I can't have her
No
man shall.
And yet I dream still of her face,
When she is hurt, I feel her pain:
I
must possess her for my own,
I cannot bear that she be slain.
I swear by all the powers
of hell
If I can't have her
No man shall.
And now beneath the sun's eclipse
I
see her standing in the sun,
She throws her jesses at my feet,
Woman again, the curse
undone.
I swear by all the powers of hell
Now I can't have her
No man
shall.
IMPERIUS
Pass
me the wine, boy -
I need to drink.
Too many memories,
Can't bear to
think.
For my own weakness,
Debt still unpaid,
Hearts I have broken,
Lovers betrayed.
Tell you the story?
Little to tell,
Only that I've spent
Two years in hell:
Ever since knowing
What I had said,
How I'd betrayed
them:
Wished myself dead.
She was a lady,
Face like the day:
He the
Guard Captain,
Passed on the way:
True love at first sight,
Never so
true,
I their confessor,
All this I knew.
But I drank more than
Wisdom allows,
And so the Bishop
Heard of their vows:
Raved like a
madman,
Swore to avenge,
Called on dark powers
Had his
revenge.
And now the maiden
Walking by night
Must fly as hawk by
Sun's constant light,
And the black wolf there -
That is Navarre,
Calling to
Isabeau
Under the stars.
Pass me the wine, boy -
I need to
drink.
Too many memories,
Can't bear to think.
For my own weakness,
Debt still unpaid,
Hearts I have broken,
Lovers
betrayed.
ISABEAU
Sometimes I dream of flying over mountains,
Of passing
fields and valleys on the wing:
And does the hawk then dream of being human?
Of love,
or hope, or hate, or anything?
For while each night I know myself to be myself,
Each
dawn I feel that knowledge slip away,
And all I am - my mind, my heart, my body -
Is
lost again at every break of day.
I am so tired of silence and of shadows,
I am so
weary of this endless night,
Only a moment of the sun at daybreak -
Only a single second
of the light -
Only a single chance to see my true love
Before I am a hawk, and he a
man,
To see his face, to know he sees and loves me,
And reach to touch him - but I never
can.
I have no words to curse the man who cursed us,
Set us apart till day and night
shall end,
Who lost his mind and sold his soul to damn us,
Divided us past any power to
mend,
I only wish once more to hold my true love,
To have the magic broken, curse
undone,
To walk with him and talk beneath the moonlight,
To stand with him under the
midday sun.
NAVARRE
My family swore to serve the Church,
They rode to war
in the Crusade,
I bear my father's sword as proof,
Each quest a jewel upon the
blade.
And now I ride on my own quest,
To kill the man I once obeyed,
To slay him
with my father's sword -
For my allegiance was betrayed.
I vowed obedience to His
Grace,
I served as Captain of the Guard,
And now I ride beyond the walls,
The gates
against me locked and barred.
Because I loved my Isabeau,
Her face as fair as Love's own
face,
We fled by night from Aquila
Fleeing the vengeance of His Grace.
And yet
we bear that vengeance's mark
Upon our bodies and our souls,
Never to be as we once
were,
Lovers united, one true whole,
But always trapped apart, alone,
Human and
beast, by night and day,
And so I bear my father's sword,
And so I go to find and
slay.
For as he bade me be a wolf
So shall I turn on him and kill -
A wolf's
obsession, a wolf's rage,
A human's honour, human's will.
I swear he'll pay for what he's
done,
To this I set my human word -
The wolf he loosed shall take revenge -
I
swear upon my father's sword.
Return to the poetry index page