She was all the stars in a velvet sea A gem of perfection she seemed to me Skin like silk and a rose red smile All grace when I brought her tea
And her laughter cut through my girlish dream "Don't you know that we're all silk and cream And roses and velvet and gems and stars? You must be more than what you seem."
One night I stole into her garden And I overheard her sigh...
"You don't have to be wild to want to run Look at the roses and you'll see See them climbing ever higher toward the sun These garden walls are not for me." I had come so young to the Twilight School Quiet and shy and a bit of a fool A hopeless handmaid, so awkward and awed Until she saw an uncut jewel
She taught me all the Companion's art Beauty and charm and the skills to set ourselves apart We were teacher and student, we were friend and friend And we were sisters of the heart
Sharing afternoon tea in her garden She would gaze up at the sky...
"You don't have to be wild to want to run Look at the ring-doves and you'll see See them stretching their clipped wings out toward the sun This pretty cage is not for me." She could see her path laid out in flowers and in stone Priestess, Lady, Head of House, and nothing left unknown She whispered to her teacup that it chilled her to the bone "When others look to you to make their choices You no longer make your own..." Now my clients say there's no lady as fine The skill and the charm and the garden are mine But I walk outside the gate at night And see the stars and planets shine
They say she's done battle, they say she fell in love They say she near died in that endless sky above And all of her lessons I took to heart Even that of the rose and the dove
She taught me to look beyond the garden And she never said goodbye...
You don't have to be wild to want to run Look at the river and you'll see See it leap and dance away, laughing in the sun Perhaps it knows a place for me.