Bard's grave

“Thousand stars on her eyes shine

As her face to the sky she raised

A stream of tears down her cheeks

Maybe rain or maybe not

Maybe none or maybe both

Her feet on the ground heavy

Her throat on a knot aching

A scream couldn’t be hear but seen

As fate had destroyed her dreams

Her soul could never again find peace

The name of love she found

Love and peace and joy she owned

But that name was no more

And now she drowned on sorrow’s pond

Maybe dead or maybe not

Maybe none or maybe both”

Gracious fingers moved on strings of gut and metal, their elaborate dance a magical pattern laced around many distracted ears. Travelers who stopped on their way for rest or food, some locals that came for fun and ale. They were all suddenly silent. The bard on the stage, her foot softly stomping the wooden planks to mark the rhythm also started to guide the heartbeats of all those silent figures looking at her. Her face was looking down, her fingers almost moving on their own as her mind rode the music to a different place and time. A place only she knew and that was no more. A place not on this world but nowhere else. Her mind held the only key to the most sacred door. Her memory the only road to a different world.

She raised her face and opened her eyes but saw nothing. The people around her was not there and the room was somewhere else. She was again embraced her own heart and filled her lungs. To sing a song she knew, but soon, she will not.

“Her body sinking on darkness

Her hand reaching for laughter

Her feet found no ground

Her voice made no sound

With tearing noises her ears were full

Black hand around her pulled

Reality was there no more

Never again she saw the world

It was lost the name she found

A new path her mind had bound

A shiny road with jewels full

To a lonely place where she could forever dull”

The song was not her own. Many years it had been known. Many voices on the room joined and those who not, the melody they hummed. The tavern’s host shed a tear as a memory of a long time ago filled his mind. Flushing, he quickly rubbed his apron on his face. He then realized; he was not the only one. Many faces wore tears and many more than one. But none of them saw the bard, all their eyes were somewhere far away, somewhere only they could now. Younger faces smiled and enjoyed the song, it was only a song to them. Some meanings you can only find while living, and the names of joy and sorrow are usually heard not until you can’t see call them no more.

“Mind and body were no more

Soul alone the road was long

End was nothing but a feeble sound

There can’t be a finish goal

There is nowhere more to go

Maybe death or maybe not

Maybe none or maybe both”

She sung the last verse with her voice alone. Fingers tired of their agile flow. The song was done but the meaning was forever woven to her soul. But a meaning was nothing without a name. What good was a meaning for her, if she knew not, what was the meaning of?

Moments later the road she walked. It wasn’t raining but she pretended so, her tears were enough for her sight to drown. She knew where she walked to, but she didn’t know why.

Sun was just about to set. Black replaced the yellowy colors of the firmament and clouds turned from white to grey. The old bard stood over a wooden cross. There was no name on it and no years. Her heart knew this place, but her mind could no longer remember what once was. So, she cried, not because she should, but because she could not remember her reason to. Why she came to that place she could not know and for that she hated her fate. Because she knew, one day, she’ll come no more, and she’ll be sad no more.

The sun was set, and dark was the sky. The clouds more and more covered the black canvas full with stars. More and more clouds each time. More and more clouds with each night.