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Beatrice's Rose

from Beatrice's Rose by SpriteGuard

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about

Beatrice eventually painted a mural telling a story that Mirabella had never heard before, and so her life's work, the work of a million years was done at last. Now, although she knew she could no longer be with Sophia ever again, she still thought it was right for her to die then, and be buried beside her, so that in the future people would believe they had been reunited in death.

This was the first song I wrote for the album. It's inspired by Appalachian and English folk music, especially the song Barbara Allen and the recurring motif of the rose and briar.

The form is one I invented myself. It's based on the terzanelle, a form created by Lewis Turco, but I changed it to be less directly linked to villanelle form, more suited to narratives and with a circular structure.

Jaw harp, Harpejji, vocals

lyrics

When Beatrice's work was done
There was a creeping briar there
So green beneath the morning sun

She followed it all down the stair
Away across the sea of stones
There was a creeping briar there

It led her to her lover's bones
Where sweet Sophia had been laid
Away across the sea of stones

"How long have I my love betrayed
That there has grown such thicket here
Where sweet Sophia had been laid?"

"How long since I last held her dear
Could she have missed and longed for me
That there has grown such thicket here?"

"I do not know how that could be
But the dead do not dream, so how
Could she have missed and longed for me?"

"If I could, then I'd go right now
I'd once more be again with her.
But the dead do not dream, so how?"

"I pray my bones here to inter
That future storytellers say
I'd once more be again with her"

"The dead know not of night or day
Our love will be but one of those
That future storytellers say"

"And from my grave will grow a rose
Like rose and briar stories past
Our love will be but one of those"

And all this happened, to the last
And the rose grew round the briar
Like rose and briar stories past

Grew till they could grow no higher
All green beneath the morning sun
And the rose grew round the briar

When Beatrice's work was done
There was a creeping briar there
All green beneath the morning sun

credits

from Beatrice's Rose, released March 12, 2023

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SpriteGuard Seattle, Washington

Story teller, Twitch streamer, game developer, and now apparently a musician, or something.

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