I’m a storyteller from the yore
A lover of folk and the lore
Deep within my betel pouch
Hides a Pearl I once loved much
Oh.. I loved her like a lover
Clasped to my heart like a flower
She glowed in the warmth of my heart
And I glowed for a man young and smart
He jested and laughed and loved
Calling me the pearl made maid
I danced in the mirth of his love for years
Till one day…..
When the rhythm of my love was broken
By a sister who fell in love with my young man
And took away not just the young man
But my Pearl too
Holding her lover’s hand who was once mine
She casually remarked
“Sister is already an old maid”
Does she need a young little pearl?
And away went the pearl with my sister and her lover
Her lover and her pearl who were once mine
Alone I trod over the meadows green
Crushing their lives beneath my coarse feet brown
I shed my youth in the frozen lake
And hid my heart in Cold’s embrace
Little tears broke the lake’s icy grin
Tears and Tears filled its brim
Little fish nibbled at my love-sick heart
Sweetened by the sweet of long-lost love
I left the lake with a heart full of holes
Full of tangy smell of the fish
I smelt fish for many years
I breathed fish
I dreamt fish
I wept fish
I loved fish
Who had carved beautiful holes on my heart
In memory of my long-lost Pearl
Oh…. I loved her like a lover
I had squeezed my life to make her mine
She was a child of mine
Of sweat and blood and coarse brown hands
I faded into a shadow in memory
Of my lost love the pearl
One mushy morning appeared my sister POP!
Cursing me, out of thin air did she drop
She called my pearl old and ugly and small
And flung it on my face of a peeling wall
Dipped in gold she had no space for a mean little pearl
“You gave me a beggarly pearl
Your lover died and I married an Earl”
She came to give me back the worthless pearl
But could she also return my lost youth
Lost in the sand of time?
Or could she mend the holes of my heart?
I’m a storyteller from the yore
A lover of folk and the lore
Deep within my betel pouch
Hides a Pearl that smells of fish
And dreams of a lover long dead
Who once had loved a Pearl-maid..
–END–
