Bitter Kingdom ... Orphans ... Encounter ... Departure
Bitter Kingdom
Nobility and chivalry
A dim and distant memory
A hollow King and his barren Queen
Frustrated posterity
Nine months of hope had come to this
Princess Eloise
Then the Queen had breathed her last
Her husband to displease
He raged against his blighted life
He raged and cursed his absent wife
He raged against the little one
'But that she had been a son'
He raged against poor Eloise
Doomed nevermore her King to please
Without the wall another cry
A mother worthy of the name
New-bereaved and mourning
Sobbing cries her grief proclaim
Her husband murdered in the gutter
Naught but anguish will she utter
And her baby stole away
A mean and petty debt to pay
Forsaking town and house and home
And all that once she called her own
Empty handed to the Forest Grim
She flees reciting the names of him
Him that's dead and him that's stole
And none will dare to her console
The King looked down upon her plight
From a window atop a flight
Of stairs within the castle dark
He blindly stared and did not mark
How she stumbles, weeps and grieves
How she passes out of sight
Enfolded by the forest leaves
Swallowed by the bitter night
Self-pity leaves no room for grace
Upon the monarch's stony face
Eloise must keep her peace
And always keep an eye that's dry
In a castle such as this
The hated child may not cry
Orphans
A clearing in the Forest Grim
Where stands an ancient stone-built forge
Ev'ning has silenced the anvil's ring
And the Smithy has paused
To feed the boy, the hungry one
His only precious foundling son
'Smithy tell me once again
The tale of the heartless King'
Smithy knew he'd not restrain
The boy's incessant questioning
'The Queen that bore poor Eloise
Was Queen no more that day
The new Queen ruled in her stead
With scarce a month's delay
In scarce a year a Prince was born
Upon the date of his sister's birth
Eloise to supplant
Much to her father's mirth
Yet the Royal Advocate
Refused to be complicit
'Eloise must take the throne
The law is quite explicit''
How she lived these ten long years
Eloise without her mother
How many are the silent tears ...'
He tailed off to a mutter
He paused and listened - and without
A strange uncommon din
A muttering a whiffling
The crying of a little thing
A snuffling a sniffling
A silence fell o'er everything
The Smith strode out into the night
The boy sat still, eyes wide with fright
Waiting in the firelight
Without the window darkest night
Then suddenly the Smith returned
Anger in his dark eyes burned
'Take care of this I must away
Look not for me until the day'
Though in haste he paused a beat
And placed a bag at his feet
Within the Smithy's bag a pair
Of chestnut eyes that constant stare
Needle claws on each black paw
A bundle of bear rolls on the floor
Thus came Bruin to the pair
Thus started the kinship of boy and his bear
The Smithy smiled and understood
For he was kind and he was good
He returned at break of day
What he had done he would not say
He wearily smiled at the sleepy head
And to the boy he gravely said
'Boy you take good care of him
An orphan child of the Forest Grim
For what we give we shall receive
When the pain of others we relieve'
Encounter
The Bruin had taken to wandering
Restive - silently pondering
The Boy felt it too - uneasy he grew
Long days of childhood were ending
A change in the season was silently creeping
Bruin and Boy awakening - seeking
Hidden things - near yet just out of view
The irresistible call of the new
Quiet was the Forest Grim
The Boy - all had abandoned him
The Smith was early on his way
Where the Bruin - who could say
Then rushing down the woodland track
A carriage drove in urgent haste
The Coachman eager to get back
Before night fell upon the place
The ponies sweated as they ran
The carriage swayed and the Coachman
Made to pass the Forge clear by
But then a crack and then a cry
As the Hitching Bolt was sheared
And the ponies disappeared
The Coachman halts the coach and then
Runs down the track after them
Now the silent carriage waits
And the Boy hesitates
Steps up to the carriage door
To open it - but before
He can do aught her within
Has disembarked and in doing
Stuns the Boy - his features freeze
At the sight of Eloise
She smiles with eyes downcast and he
Invites her in to take her ease
Within the Forge and that is how
He came to wait on Eloise
She spoke but little yet she smiled
He was eager - glad to please
Within the Forge and that is how
First he loved fair Eloise
All this passed and more before
The Coachman knocked upon the door
And conducted Eloise
To the carriage as before
The boy stoked up the flames and forged
The Hitching Bolt and its parts
Before he knew it she was gone
But memories were writ on hearts
The Boy slept not until morning light
Then he succumbed to sweet sleep in spite
Of thoughts questing further than ever he'd seen
His heart fixed on places that never he'd been
Sudden the Forge in the Forest Grim
Was no longer world enough for him
A wider horizon than ever he knew
Had suddenly hove into view
Departure
'Farewell my son, godspeed
Upon a blue moon think of me
And if ever you have need ...'
Mumbled the Smithy
Nothing more remained to say
The Boy shed tears as he walked away
The Smithy watched him go and then
His mind unbidden strayed to when
The Boy first knocked upon his door
A score of years before
(The Boy had fled from his Merchant master
And the brute was chasing after
When the Smithy intervened
Placing himself in between
The Merchant fumed and cursed and spat
Then gasped and choked and fell down flat
An evil man whose evil heart
Once stopped, declined again to start
The Constable was called and came
And took away the Merchant's things
He inquired about a boy
Traveling along with him
The Smithy had not seen a boy
At least that's what he claimed
To account for the loss of the boy
The Merchantman was blamed
From that day a childish voice
From time to time was heard
At the Forge within the woods
But no one said a word)
'Farewell Smithy' said the Boy
But could say no more
For his heart was in his throat
And his chest was sore
He embraced the Smithy
Then turned to depart
The rhythm of his footfalls
Soothed his aching heart
The Boy diverted from the path
To climb the Ancient Tor
For to view what had passed
And see what lay before
Behind, the forest and the Forge
Smoke rising from the flame
Ahead the Town and Castle
Waiting on The Plain
One leave-taking lay in store
One last final pain
There - the Bruin stands before
His childhood friend once again
Well-met the Bruin there!
Briefly now the pair
Of lifelong friends refresh the bond
Of brotherhood they share
But the moment soon must pass
And the pair must part at last
The Bruin turns to the Wilderness
The Boy turns from the past
Climbing down the Ancient Tor
Feet upon the path once more
From the Forest and the flame
To the Town upon The Plain
... end of act 1