Disclaimer: As you can see, I do not own the poem/folksong Romance of Count Arnaldos. It was written by…umm…somebody. I pulled it our of a book called Sueñan, Lloran, Cantan translated by Perry Higman.
Warning: Although not graphic, this is slash, meaning m/m relationship. Interestingly, this is folk song with many different versions. Most of them are not as slashy as the one I found in a children's poetry book.
Grammar Warning: Also, while I understand the value of criticism and welcome anything outside of flames, I do realize there are a lot of fragments in this. I'm sorry, that's my writing style, if you can't stand fragment sentences, don't read this. I'm unlikely to change that. Unless you can do something with it I like better than what I have. Which, really, would only prove that you are a better writer than me. I bow down before you. No, really. Also, really really short paragraphs. It might help to think of this as a prose/poetry hybrid in response to a poem.
Romance of Count Arnaldos
Anonymous, Spain, before 1500
Who's ever had such adventure
upon the waves of the sea,
as had Count Arnaldos
the morning of St. John's day?
He rode with a falcon perched on his hand,
hunting wild fowl and game,
when a ship he saw nearing the shore
that it was a great galley was plain.
Its rigging was braided of gauze
its yards were hung with silk sails,
the mariner steering its course
was singing a song as he came…
a song that made the winds be still
and calmed the ocean's waves,
the fish that live in the deep
up to the shallows they swam,
and it made the birds in the sky
fly to sit on the mast.
Then spoke Count Arnaldos
you'll hear what he had to say:
"For love of God I beg you sailor,
teach me that song you sang."
The sailor answered the Count
here is the answer he gave:
"I shall never teach you this song
unless you sail away with me."
Ending Version 1: The Angst (A Moment in Time)
I can feel the wood pressing into my hands, rough texture against smooth palms.
The scent of salt and cool water washes over me, carried by an ocean breeze.
Seabirds cry out into an infinite blue.
If I close my eyes, I can imagine I am on a ship.
On that ship.
The gentle rolling of the waves.
The creak of timbers and the slapping noise of water against the hull.
A deep, rich voice rising up to the Heavens.
Sparkling eyes full of more possibilities than even the ocean itself.
Strong arms around me, pulling me into a warmth such as I have never known.
"My lord?" Antonio's voice pulls me back to reality.
My hands, smooth and pampered as only those of the nobility can be, rest on the back of a chair, not the railing of a ship.
The sweet breeze comes through my window, lifting off the ocean and rising up to my villa. It rushes past me, around me, tantalizing me with its touch, its scent…teasing me with the places it has been.
I envy the breeze. It travels so freely, out across the ocean…
Places I cannot go.
I am jealous of the breeze. It hears his voice, his song. It runs its fingers through his hair, caresses him…
Things I cannot do.
Because I did not go.
I was given the chance, once, to live my dreams.
"Sail away with me."
When I stand, as I am now, looking out over the ocean, I hear the waves whisper it over and over.
"Sail away with me."
"My lord?" His voice is hesitant, wary of disturbing me.
I turn away from the window, turn my back on the ocean and the mocking breeze. My place is here and I cannot concentrate when I look at the waves.
"Yes, Antonio." It is not a question. I know why he is here. He is always here, at this time of day, for this purpose. He always shall be.
As shall I.
I do not look back to the ocean. I will not. I cannot.
My place is here.
My duty is here.
My family, my people, my lands need me.
I have always known that.
I only forgot, for a moment in time.
His voice, his song, haunts me. It always will.
Ending Version 2: The Fluff (Infinity)
I can feel the wood pressing into my hands, rough texture against smooth palms.
The scent of salt and cool water washes over me, carried by an ocean breeze.
Seabirds cry out into an infinite blue.
Such a strange world around me, and yet it is so familiar.
I have been near the sea all of my life, but never have I been on it, not like this.
I have looked out across the water from the safety of the shore.
I thought I saw infinity.
Now, surrounded by blue, the sky, the sea, stretching endlessly to the horizon, I know infinity.
It is not this, the ocean and the sky.
I saw infinity on a summer day, in the eyes of a sailor I had never met, although I knew him in my very soul. I heard it in his voice.
"Sail away with me."
I felt it in his touch, his kiss.
I was the eldest son, born to power, raised for duty. My entire life is expressed in that one word: Duty.
I am the eldest son. I have a duty to my family. I am nobility, a Count. I have a duty to my people, my lands, my King, my country.
And I have abandoned it all for this.
My duty, which has been my entire life, for the uncertainty of the sea.
My wealth, all of my privilege, for the cold, wet, cramped space of a ship.
Everything I own, everything I have ever known, everything I am.
For him.
"Sail away with me."
The sun is setting. Even though it is summer, the wind lifting off the water chills me. I shiver as the cold ocean spray hits my bare skin.
"You look lost." Warm breath tickles my ear as I feel his arms enclose me. I lean back, into his heat. I close my eyes and rest the back of my head against his shoulder, savoring the feel of him against me, around me, enveloping me in his warmth…
"Do you regret leaving it all behind?" The words rumble through his chest and spill out of his mouth in a deep, smoky baritone. It takes them a moment to register in my mind, as I revel in his voice and his touch. I hadn't answered his first comment. I turn now, to answer this question.
Our eyes meet, as they did when we first met. Infinity stretches before me…
His eyes search my face, looking for the answer to his question. I am surprised he needs to look. My arms creep around his waist, pulling him closer to me, letting him feel my desire for him.
"No."