Thorns!
[woodwinds give a chirpy, happy tune]
We were minding our own business
And just riding through the forest
When we came upon a footprint
Which our horses found abhorrest.
And our ranger looking wisely
At this evidence of hostiles
Did announce that we this evening
And night long all must use our wiles.
So it came as no surprise when
Our night’s sleep was interrupted
And a pack of angry dire wolves
Claimed their hunt we had disrupted.
The wolves in terms growling announced
That happy they to meet us were
And since no other game was found
They intend thus to eat us, sir.
Their love for us intense but short
It would be just a one-night stand;
But Ahb our leader then spoke up
And gave them all this reprimand:
“Love’s not just strewn with rose petals,
To think else wise will tempt the Norns;
If love you want to grasp and rend
You to contend must with the
[symbol crash!] THORNS!”
[an underlying percussion rhythm
joins in]
The wolf leader does not listen
Ahb’s good advice he merely scorns
He leads the others to attack
But Ahb stands back and calls out
[symbol crash!] THORNS!”
The leader chooses to skip Ahb
Lets two others take on that fight,
The leader jumps upon the bard
A fourth wolf finds Beldwyn to bite.
But yet four other wolves do not
Participate, and one thus warns:
“Be careful where you place your paw
For we can’t claw through nasty
[symbol crash!] THORNS!”
The fighters now join in the fray
Their hope to draw the wolves’ attack
From off their fellows less able
To sustain damage from the pack.
The wolves begin to fall and die
Their leader says, “Don’t be forsworns,
Come take your place, where’s your esprit?”
But all that he hears back is
[symbol crash!] “THORNS!”
The wolves have all been turned to pelts
Soon will be coats by ladies worn;
But some remain unrecovered,
Ahb warns, “Don’t tread into the
[symbol crash!] THORNS!”
Ten minutes pass, all are now healed
Brambles depart, leave wolves all torn;
The group wants Ahb to tell them how
She’ll not avow; she just says
[symbol crash!] THORNS!”
[percussion fades out, leaving somber
woodwinds]
If love perhaps you should confuse
With power, death, or causing pain,
Then like the wolves, the path you seek
Will fill with thorns and be in vain.