BINDING SONG

(Words by the Countess, tune byZan)

With this harp I bind you, with these strings of gold,
All your youth remembered, you were bought and sold,
With this gift I give you, all your gifts make mine,
All your treasures I consume, I drink you down like wine.
Out from the gutter I pulled you back to me,
Healed you and fed you and would not set you free,
Out from the dreamstorm of deep and dreaming Blue
I drew your spirit shining bright and true...
And with every action, every thought and deed,
I bind you to me to feed my own dark need.

With this sword we chain you, chains of liberty,
Honour and duty are not words to set men free,
For the cloak of Corrain you wear to make us proud
Is the cloak that is Clanley that is doomed to be your shroud.
Out from the circles where Keepers' lives are sold
We called you and claimed you to suffering untold,
Out from the Fringes, darkside of the Edge,
We drew you to redeem an ancient pledge...
All the gifts we give you take away your soul,
All the gifts we offer you must take to make us whole.

With a curse I bind you when I would run free,
Still you always follow like a part of me,
And your pain is my pain, though it's pain I would not feel,
And my precious freedom, no thief but you could steal.
Out from the starvoid your torment tore my mind,
Bonded our spirits, though I was none of your kind,
Out from the darkness that Rhagans call the Hain
You rescued me and bound me once again...
Far away you're with me, closer still I'm lost,
Caught up in your bindings now and who may tell the cost?