A Daughter's Heart

Five years I dwelt on Kaskind's shores
Where rock meets oak
And moss meets sea
Where I recollect the final words
My father said to me:

"Daughter, daughter, my own true heart
Whose smile is the moon
Now heed my plea.
Go not to the shores of the wilding lands
Of the savage Osnabee.

The long-haired men and their burly shanks
Will covet your smile
And steal it from me
No good ever came from the swampy stocks
Of the reed and sunken tree."

Oh father, father, sing no more
Of the seaward folk
So dark and free
For now I sail to the wilding realm
Of the dusky Osnabee.

My heart is my own, so too my smile
No binding cord
Nor chieftain's key.
I leave on a song at the cusp of dawn
And I take my leave of thee.

But the heart is a gift, so too the smile
A treasure shared
Where it would be
And burly shanks keep warm that heart
On a rainy night by the sea.

So now I sing to my three young babes
Where waves meet moss
And rocks meet tree.
Of their father's love for an Empire lass
In our home with the Osnabee.