Verses for the Lamentations, to be Sung at the Midnight Song: I. On the Feast of Orusen

Four verses.

Orusena, First of Fathers,

Slew the Serpent by the Waters

When the last of ancient Stone-kings

Dying lay, from Serpent’s venom.

Queen Hasanyah, First of Mothers,

Learned the name of dying Stone-king.

Orusena, First of Fathers,

Fought the Serpent by the Waters,

Never knowing, as a mortal,

Whether he would die in combat.

Orusena, First of Fathers,

In another battle perished.

Orusena, First of Fathers,

On a green and verdant hilltop

Perished, at the wedding-slaughter

When the lords of long-lost Starland

Weapons drew in angry contest,

Blood was spilled upon the hilltop.

Orusena, First of Fathers,

Slew the Serpent by the Waters.

So the Children from the Southlands

Came to dwell beside the waters,

Inland sea the Stone-kings gave them,

Ere the coming of the Darkness.