Durpin’s Book of Songs and Poems
Copyright Tartsongs, Ltd.
Introduction


‘Twas my good fortune to meet Durpin Dar, the first Lord Scribe of Daingneach Onoir, when I was but a young lass and still new to Wehnimer’s Landing. By that time, years of toil against evil had taken their toll. He looked tired. We sat for hours while he talked and sang; tales of the founding of Daingneach Onoir and House Phoenix, songs of love and of honor, and finally of his plans to take a trip to a far land of strange and wondrous people where he hoped to again find joy in life. Eventually, his words ran out, and he stood with a sigh. But before he turned away from me for the last time, he paused, reached into his pocket, and drew out a small troll-skin leather book. “Take this,” he said with a slight smile. “This contains the songs, poems, histories and lessons that I have written during my time here. Enjoy them, but do not forget to give credit to Tartsongs, Ltd., whenever anyone sings them.”



With that, he turned and was gone. This first book contains his songs and poems. The second book contains his lessons and histories. From them we may hope to glean a tiny bit of insight into the soul of our first Lord Scribe.



Submitted in Honor,



Elaerina Cragsinger

Scribe, House Daingneach Onoir


Poems

Beauty (Written for Lady Matti)

I never cease to be amazed

How women miss the point

Some laugh, some smile, some simply gaze

Some reply, some don't.



Their Hair is wrong, their boots are old

Their face a scarred up mess

They say they are not pretty now

They blush as they confess.



Tis not the skin, the hair, the eyes

nor clothes that I extol

For what I hold in high regard

is the beauty of their soul.



Fine


Fine, Fine

I be doing fine

Better than a thick, sweet Solhaven wine

Better than 13 tarts a baking in the oven

Better than 13 witches a brewing in their coven

Fine, Fine

I be doing fine

I tells you some more, ifs you gots the time.



Fine, Fine

I's a happy one

Better than many but not as good as some

I be doing so much better than I thinks that i deserve

Ifs I was doing better, I'd be getting on your nerves

Fine, Fine

I's a happy guy

I give out a smile when any passes by.



Fine, Fine

better than great

My beloved Jenina's going to make me her mate

Then she be making babies and I be making tarts

and we be making merry, and be sharing our hearts

Fine, Fine

as you will discover

how rosey life looks for the arms of your lover.





How would I know?


If she were my true love

how would I know?

When my love for Stonemeadow

I can not let go?



Can her kiss bring me joy?

and erase the cold shadow?

that clings to my soul

my loss of Stonemeadow?



If I were to love her

would she replace

my love for Stonemeadow?

Would it be erased?



How could I forget

the love of my youth?

And how would I know

when I run

from the truth.



Heart and Stone




Love carved in the heart, Love carved into stone

Will never depart or leave you alone

Love without fear, Joy without pain

Year after year love remains.



Love carved in the heart brings passion alive

those feelings which start and can't be denied.

True tender expressions, desire untamed

Love carved in the heart fuels your flame.



Love carved into stone brings freedom and trust

when out on your own it brings faithfulness

Glory and Honor and security

Love carved into stone sets you free.



Love carved in the heart, Love carved into stone

Will never depart or leave you alone

Love without fear, Joy without pain

Year after year love remains.



(The union between Direstrike and Mistyleah was the inspiration for this poem.)



A Hermit’s Dream


The hermit dedicated himself

To learn the truth of life.

He shunned away the lures of wealth,

Pride, lust, and the like.



Alone, he spent his days of youth.

He searched both far and wide.

Alone, he hunted for the truth.

This quest would not subside.



Mendanbar, all alone,

Exhausted from his quest.

Went to free the spirits who moan

To give their spirits rest.



Dreamweaver freed the spirits who moan.

With wounded heart to shield

She often hunted quite alone

To keep her pain concealled.



Together they hunted alone together,

Alone together alone.

Mendenbarr and Dreamweaver

So soon the seed was sown.



The Lady spoke of Love and Life

The Hermit spoke of truths

"Without Love and life", the Lady claimed

"the truth is of no use".



The Hermit learned. The Lady taught.

Dreamweaver showed him life.

The Hermit found the Truth He sought

The Hermit found a wife.



What was truth the Hermit gained?

It's one we recognize

'Tis through love and life and friends and pain

that one will become wise.



Surprise?


The darkness of a winters night

will slowly break in pre-dawn skies

But still, the cold’s not put to flight

until the rays of sun arrives.



And so the darkness of my heart

had turned to lifeless shades of grey

The pain that loss of love imparts

Has left me cold, left me afraid.



But now, a smile, a twinkling eye

a word, a touch, A Lady's face

A ray of joy has touched my life

a warmth is here, the cold replaced.



My skin tingles, My nose twitches

My heart races, the times flies

All these things change as my fate switches

is this love?

or just surprise?



Sister Sandress


My sister is a horrid thing

I love her just the same

when something in my life goes wrong

My sister is the blame.



Her face mis-shaped, her eyes askew

Her skin a blotched disgrace

But if you point it out to her

I'll rearrange your face!



My sister's mind is not quite right

In fact, she's gone quite mad

She says I'm making these things up

I'm not! Her memory's bad.



My sister says she's nice to me

But don't believe her claim

My sister is a horrid thing

I love her just the same.



A Rat’s Promise


One night I sniffed within my pack

and found down at it's bottom

a cherished tart. My lips went "smack"

It was just slightly rotten.



It was old and though the mold

was growing through and through it

I did not mind the jelly slimed

as long as I could chew it.



But soon I fell into a trance

a slumber of foreboding

this nightmare dreamed, (the mold perchance?)

Some feel the tale’s worth noting.



I dreamed I stood at Town Square East

Heard screams, saw bloody trails

Inside the Moot Hall something feasts

on young ones soft entrails.



I rushed inside towards moaning crys

the dead were laid out flat

and once inside, with my own eyes, I saw

The Massive Vorpal Vrrael-Rat!



"Oh, Massive Rat!, You must now STOP!"

His tail wraps 'round and binds me

He nods and growls, "But I shall NOT!"

and slays the elf behind me.



Into the streets, the carnage reeks

out towards the Cul-de-sac

The dead I saw, their bodies gnawed, by the

The Massive Vorpal Vrrael-Rat!



In narrow halls, the sewer walls

I saw the strangest sight

The sewers clean, walls glistened and gleamed

Each tunnel bathed in soft light.



On the polished floor were rats galore

freshly bathed in the clean flowing stream

each happy and gay, each froliced and played

It was the end of my haunting dream.



This was my dream. A warning it seems

that one should take to heart.

But I wonder still, and I always will

Was it just from that moldy tart?



Adversary


Deep in the Darkest Hole

Below the pits of Hell

In secret caverns sit

the growing terror swells.



Alone, I face the beast

no others enter in

If not victorious

I shall not be seen again.



The terror that I face

I must slay at all cost

is the pain that I hide

from the love

that I've lost.





Songs


Hobbit Man


And I think it's gonna be a long long time

Till I get another tart to eat and find

I'm not the man they think I am at home

Oh no no no I'm a HOBBIT man

HOBBIT man!

eating all his tarts up here alone.



HOBBIT Maaaa--aaaaaa--aaaa---aan

I'm a HOBBIT man!"



Durpin smiles while listening to the baying of Waerns from the courtyard far below the tower.



When It’s Through


(Durpin pats his thighs with his hands. He sets up a walking-blues, shuffle rhythm.)



Durpin sings:



"When I leave safety behind me

when my hunting work's begun

Free the undead souls I find me

and then rub the wounds I've won."



Durpin sings:



"And when it's through, babe

You got to know this is true, babe

'cause when my hunting work is through

I'll just want to be with you."



Durpin sings:



"And if tomorrow night

the Vrrael invades our homes

And though I put up a fight

they turn my body into stone."



Durpin sings:



"If they pull my soul away from me

and leave me where I lay

And if no one comes to rescue me

and alone, there I decay."



Durpin sings:



"And when it's through, babe

You got to know this is true, babe

After Lorminstra pulls me thru

I'll still just want to be with you."



(Durpin takes a deep breath, as the blues feeling becomes a bit more intense.)



Durpin sings:



"If you turn your face away from me

and say our love is wrong

if you refuse to share the destiny

that has been ours all along."



Durpin sings:



"If you choose another lover

crush my spirit till I die

with your feelings for me over

and my love becomes despised."



Durpin sings:



"And if that's what you do, babe

You got to know this is true, babe

If your love is ever through

I'll still want to be with you."



Durpin sings:



"Yeah, yeah, yeah

You gotta know it's true, babe

I'll forever want to be with you."



(Durpin looks awfully vulnerable, as he stops patting the rhythm on his leg.)