Dandelyon's Worlds

Last night, I scheduled a couple of patreon posts. One was a song so old I didn't have an electronic copy, just paper copies of the old dot-matrix printout. (Not even a Fancy Font printout, just plain dot matrix!) I wrote it with this intro:


And then I started typing the song.  While I was typing, I had time to think, because even long-covid addled, typing is an eye-to-fingers thing, bypassing (or almost completely bypassing) the conscious thinking stuff.  In my head, I was singing it, of course, and noting that it isn't my usual poetic style, except for one thing:

This song uses a technique I have returned to again and again, where the last verse is the same as the first, but if I did it well, the story in between has changed the listener's interpretation of those words.

And it occurred to me that this is a thing that matters in real life, well, not the poetic form, the trope, if you will, but the assumptions we all make about other people--that if they do or say a thing, it must be for the exact same reason we would have had, had we done that thing.

So often, in real life, we see something and think we understand what's going on, and also what the other people are feeling and thinking. We assume we know their intentions, and why they are doing what they do.

But do we really? Or is there a story that we don't know?

I think that is an important question we should all keep in mind, and think about a lot more often than we do.  (And that's before we get to the fact that people's brains don't all function the same way.)

Anyway, here is the song:


Ambassador to the Enemy

Deirdre M Murphy

G#4              E4          G#4
Ambassador, I, to the enemy
   G#4                  E4                G#4
I meet with their Prince every day
G#4        E4                       G#4
He and I talk while our kin fight
G#4              E4          G#4
Ambassador, I, to the enemy

Northmen, they, have no sanity
Children know they are craven and fey
So I was taught; so I believed
Northmen, they, have no sanity

The Prince, He, of the Enemy
Keeps hate and injustice at bay
Courageous and strong, he rules them well
The Prince, He, of the Enemy

Ambassador, I, to the enemy
I love their Prince more every day
How could I find such honor here?
Ambassador, I, to the enemy

My dreams, they, are all fantasy
The war will soon end, I can’t stay
I’m honor bound, I must go home
My dreams, they, are all fantasy

Our peoples, shall, live in  harmony
Alone in my tent I will lay
He is to wed an ally’s child
Our peoples, shall, live in  harmony

Ambassador, I, to the enemy
I meet with their Prince every day
He and I talk while our kin fight
Ambassador, I, to the enemy

Copyright ©1989 (2/17/1989) Deirdre M Murphy