A brief interlude from Crossroads (because I caught myself working on material out of order). Note the references below to the Sevenfold Gyre and to the One-Eyed Crow (and, obviously, the previous Three Gifts story).
***
From these three came two and two
And circles stretched from sea to sky
To the Gyre did Seven headlong run
Then all the world
That’s why, that’s why
-Words From a Severed Head
***
The Fox’s Second Gift
Long ago I gave you hearth
A place of return from which you roamed
A fire within to banish night
To soothe your aches, to make you home
I rested then for I had thought
My labors had achieved their end
Of steeling you to cold and rot
Your fire I would not need to tend
But now we meet here in the Dark
In fearful quiet ‘neath the earth
Your inner fire early guttered
Broken body lost its worth
The light of day betrayed your years
Promised you many, gave you few
For you I’ll burn, entombed below
This shall be my gift to you
***
The Lark’s Second Gift
Long ago I gave you sticks
Upon your ground I taught my tricks
I brought you craft which you might ply
I bid you: Join me in the sky
Why now have you misplaced your wings?
Forgot that art which made you free
To toil among the beasts and bring
Those who bleed right back to me
I fixed their marks of red and black
As wisdom you refused to learn
I wonder if it’s fear you lack
To drive you on, to make you burn
‘Tis fear that brings you here tonight
Poxed and stricken, marked by blue
Fear of wrongs you would not right
This shall be my gift to you
***
The Turtle’s Second Gift
Forever ago I gave you time
A river running ‘round this bend
Would frame your life with reason, rhyme
Would crown your story with an end
When at last you came to cross
Your souls would from your bodies leap
Your ghosts I’d carry to the shore of loss
Your flesh would drift on to the Deep
I will admit I’ve grown fatigued
As I look upon your evil eye
Your request–it has me so intrigued
You’d go upstream instead of die
Three Gifts were given under Night
And from those three came two and two
You’ve sought your torment, earned three more
This last shall be my gift to you
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