IC Poetry

[c0rzilla]

So, I play a bard, and I know other folks do too. Since Sol hasn't started this yet, I will! This here thread is to post the poems and songs of your characters. While I'm quite skilled in prose (I think so, anyway!) I'm not so good with poetry and song. As such, I'll admit I blatantly rip-off works and translate them into a Warcraft setting because I am lame.

First submission: a traveling song adjusted from Tolkien's Upon the Hearth the Fire is Red. It's all orc-ified, written by Orvisha. Or as close I could come. The Haiku is adjusted from a haiku by Basho.

In the pit the fire is red,
Beneath the thatch there is a bed;
But not yet weary are our feet,
Still around the cliffs we may meet
A sudden standing stone
That none have seen but we alone.
Cactus and bramble and thorn and grass,
Let them pass! Let them pass!
Mesa and water under sky,
Pass them by! Pass them by!

Still around the cliffs there may wait
A new path or a secret gate,
And though we pass them by today,
Tomorrow we may come this way
And take the hidden paths that run,
Towards the Moon or to the Sun.
Cherry, thorn and nut and huaraco
Let them go! Let them go!
Sand and stone and pool and dell,
Fare you well! Fare you well!

Home is behind, the world ahead,
And there are many paths to tread
Through shadows to the edge of night,
Until the stars are all alight.
Then world behind and home ahead,
We'll wander back to home and pit.
Mist and twilight, cloud and shade,
Away shall fade! Away shall fade!
Fire and torch, and meat and bread,
And to bed! And then to bed!

~~~~~

The first cold shower

Even the murloc seems to want

A little coat of straw

[Sol]

"Fair Old Nagrand"

"Although it is commonly thought to have originated as a marching song of the First and Second Wars, no first-hand accounts of its performance have surfaced. Moreover, it is entirely divorced from the orcish poetic tradition; indeed, in many respects, it seems far more akin to various Tirasian sea shanties, and the tune to which it's sung matches accordingly. Indeed, this is all the more curious among orcish songs for lacking an Orcish-language version entirely - it is sung only in the dialect of Common that emerged in the camps, lacking a translated form.

Thus, it is reasonable to believe that it was produced during the Internment period, when cultural exchange between man and orc would have occurred somewhat more freely. My hypothesis is that such a shanty was overheard while in nautical transit from one camp to another, and thus the tune was taken and modified. That the song currently enjoys an almost exclusive popularity with the Warsongs belies this assumption, however, as that particular clan never saw the inside of a camp in great numbers.

We can assume, therefore, that perhaps one of those few Warsongs who were captured composed the ballad in secret, in the clan tradition of keeping lore through song; and it stands to reason that they or perhaps one of their children carried it back to the clan at large - and songs spread sure as the plague if there are voices to sing them. Whatever the case may be, one might often hear this one bellowed loud as Warsong orcs march to and from battle."

-Archivist Lucard Fehrwight, Royal Curators' Society
from The Musical Greenskin, an investigative piece serialised in the Lordaeron Herald

Oh we'll sing and we'll roar like true orcish warriors,
We'll sing and we'll roar for all that we be!
We'll march back from yonder all laden with plunder
Oh what treasures, what pleasures, then you will see!

Farewell and goodbye fair old Nagrand
Farewell and goodbye to our blessed Draenor!
We've taken a liking to mayhem and fighting
Our blades we bring down and sharpen once more!

We'll burn and we'll plunder and then we will sunder
The helm and the head from each pinkskin's shoulders!
We'll meet them in battle and kill them like cattle
And rain on their cities with fire and boulders!

The first land we sighted seemed wretched and blighted
We marched on its people and set it aflame!
We charged their keep howling and cut them down yowling
Left nothing behind us but ash and bloodstains!

We found a small village, seemed ripe for the pillage
Their guardsmen were hardly fit for a fight!
We lined up with bows to make food for the crows
And tore through their walls in one bloody night!

Now let every Horde warrior take up his full tankard
Now let every Horde warrior drink deep of strong ale
Our warrior's spearpoints will skewer 'em like pork joints
In honour and glory the Horde will prevail!

Spoiler:

The lyrics borrow heavily from an unnamed song in one of Stan Nicholls' fantasy novels, although I did a lot to Warcraftify it. That original song, in turn, borrows heavily from the old Royal Navy sea shanty, Spanish Ladies. Double plagiarism, yo.

[c0rzilla]

What's that, Sol? You're daring me to write a lok'vadnod with your well-thought history shenanigans?

[Ozewse]

Another ship,
Set out to sea,
A final ship,
seats only three.

Anise smoke,
Kindling's burning,
Rising smoke,
The tides are churning.

Hear the bells,
On Elrendar's shore,
Hear those bells,
"Til death" we swore.



"Death and then again" you said.

Such a liar's web you spread.

"Til death and then again" we said.

Now I'm here, alone instead.



Now I'm alone, you're asleep.

Beneath the tides of the Great Sea deep.

Now I'm alone, and you're asleep.

You stammered behind, I took the leap.



I took the leap, and floated down.

You stumbled, you fell, I watched you drown.

I took the leap, and watched you fall.

You fell into the sea-bound squall.

Rale's poem to his once-fiance.