Avicenna (a filk of Peter Beagle's The Folk of the Air)

Well, they tell me that you can't go home again
But I never once was there
There was a secret over my hometown
It was haunted by the Folk of the Air

Chorus:
Oh, Avicenna
Wish I never once was there
Oh, Avicenna
Dancing with the Folk of the Air

She's a king's virgin daughter, but her power is her own
She is leaving the bright company, and dancing all alone
When she's hungering for secrets, she will dance a turn with me
But I'm the Knight of Ghosts and Shadows, and it's nothing she can see

(Chorus)

She would summon her a demon, but she's brought a golden boy
With his eyes all summer lightning, and his laughter blind to joy
They are hunting down a goddess for a kingdom and revenge
They are beautiful as lions but I call their prey my friends

(Chorus)

I'm a player, not a fighter, but I've come home to war
And I've found my best and oldest friend don't know me anymore
I am not blind to magic, yeah, I know what I have seen
And I cry you now for mercy for a goddess or a queen

(Chorus, the dreaded Bass Solo, end with a rousing Hornpipe)

(Fall, 1996)