“WHEN YOU ARE OLD”
As found in The LootLark’s Bedtime Rhymes & Fireside Folklore
When you are a babe,
Fast be the days
Long be the years
Learning the ways
Of Adventuring gear
You hope for greatness
wherever you go
When you leave home,
Tough be the days
Quick be the years
Adventuring forth
No rest, no fears
With dungeons and quests
Your valour will show
When you are a lord,
May you be the hawk
None be your peers
Your people, your land
May they be your gears
You strive for prosperity
you riches overflow
When you are old,
Long be the walk
Big be the ears
You’ll site and you’ll talk
Of your Adventuring years
As you gather with friends
In the summer or snow
Fine days there will be
In your peaceful gazebo.
“THE GROVE OF HIVE AND HOLLOW”
As found in The LootLark’s Bedtime Rhymes & Fireside Folklore
Aye be the Grove of Hive and Hollow (A)
No map can mark it there (B)
Yet on the full moon (C)
O’ the fifth fortnight (D)
Adventurers can find it where (B)
They seek their top treasure (E)
And to the quest they must be true (F)
For in this grove (G)
Lay a hive and a hollow
To set their follow through. (F)
Forewarned be thee, Adventurer (H)
The grove’s blade cuts both ways (I)
It’s trees will not be familiar (J)
Yet those who dally remark (K)
They flower yet (L)
Bear not fruit (M)
No leaves to identify, nor bark (K)
Yet shade for days they will provide (O)
And knots by the pair in dark (N)
Will open when
Your back does turn
To reckon as you embark
To the nave of this loose thicket
Where lies a humble hollow in stone
Of an ancient stone
Be it hewn
To the Sages, this is know
In this hollow is what you seek
For the grove has made it so
It leads you there
And seeds in there
The fruit your heart hath sown
Now, The Master of Mead and Honey
Will note a beehive thinks as one
Drones to work
A queen to lay
Their job is never done
But the grove controls this hive
Bee and trees are of one mind
They always protect
They ever expand
To this, the grove has them aligned
Forewarned be thee, Adventurer
The grove’s blade cuts both ways
To the Adventurer who quests unwavering
But finds their seek in need
In the hollow of stone
Set alone
An oracle, the grove will seed
And set its hive to lead your way
As bees can find home from afar
Follow the hive
Then oracle’s guide
As the door to your quest be now ajar
If free you roam, knowing not your quest
Fear not, just make your leave
But loiter here
On divided heart
And the grove will tether your lead
To pull you forth to the seeded hollow
Where lies a fruit so fine in taste
Forget yourself
You will not heed
Nor stop, but eat it whole in haste
Forewarned be thee, Adventurer
The grove’s blade cuts both ways
You have marked yourself
The deed’s done
The hive sets out in a craze
As you reach the crossing from grove to not
The hive encircles—sets sting to skin
Your feet turn-out roots
Your arms become limb
And two knots hold your eyes within
Aye, be the Grove of Hive and Hollow