Stan Rogers (on topic)

From: Guy Hoyle <ghoyle1_at_...>
Date: Sat, 30 Aug 2003 14:21:03 -0500

The recent Stan Rogers thread stuck in my head and would not let me rest until I had filked. This is pretty much just a first draft, so forgive me inflicting it upon you in such a rough-hewn state. Any critiques would be welcome.

DRAGON PASSAGE
Guy Hoyle
based on "Northwest Passage" by Stan Rogers

cho: Ah, for just one time I would take the Dragon Passage To find the Creek-Stream River reaching for the Mirrorsea; Tracing three cold lines through a land so wild and savage And make a Dragon Passage to the sea.

Northward from Hendrikiland 'tis there 'twas said to lie The battlegrounds of Dragonkill in which so many died; Seeking land and glory, leaving weathered, broken bones And a long-forgotten lonely cairn of stones.

Three centuries thereafter, I take passage overland In the shadow of tall Kerofin, the mother of all winds, Watching cities rise before me, then behind me sink again This tardiest explorer, striding hard across the plain.

And through the night, beneath the stars, in moonlight I detest, I think upon King Colymar, Tarshite Arim and the rest Who cracked the beast-men's Crossline and did show a path for me To defy the roaring Grazers to be free.

How then am I so different from the first men through this way? Like them, I left a settled life, I threw it all away. To seek a Dragon Passage at the call of many men To find there is no road back home again.