Disclaimer: I don't own anything/anyone of Pern.

The Harper's Farewell

Sometimes I think paper is the only thing

That understands my sorrow;

It takes my words, all mine alone,

Does not try to change or borrow.

-

Silence holds sway here, over me

Alone in the darkness of the Hall

Locked deeper and darker and colder

Within my heart than during Threadfall.

-

Though all around me strife and grief

Hang like tangible shrouds

Within my heart everything

Passes like the wind-torn clouds.

-

Letting every emotion spill

Onto the waiting book

I release my soul to fly,

To find- but what for do I look?

-

Passages dance and crisscross,

Turn after uncountable Turn

Like stanzas of a staggering dance

That everyone does learn.

-

But no one will know this one,

With my hopes, dreams and fears;

This one is written for me alone

And is for no one else's ears.

-

Tangled are the webs of my thoughts,

Ever coming, more and more;

All the knowledge held in Records

Is not the extent of my heart's lore.

-

Do people feel what I wish them to,

As they listen to my song?

Do they truly learn from my expressions;

Does it strike them like a gong?

-

I want to share with the entire world

Every emotion I feel and know

Yet how can I when only pain

Is held in me, never to go?

-

Those I know go before me,

Passing into distant dust

And following them, my heart says,

Is certainly a 'must!'.

-

Goodbye to all, kindred and stranger

Goodbye to trees little streams,

Goodbye to forgotten stars and winds

Goodbye to distant dreams.

-

So now I bid my home farewell:

Farewell, farewell, dear Pern!

And I hope that from my writing

People can feel and learn.

-

Now at the last I look up high

To the unconquerable moon,

And know I'll find peace up there:

I'll up fly there so soon…

-

So soon…