The Patchwork Tunes

Moons ago when stars were new,
and groans were sea caves breaking through,
when ocean salt echoed mountain dew,
and morn announced the first that flew,
a tale was spun of the gift of song,
and the god who fought it in the wrong.
The Patchwork Tunes as they were known,
composed in a bittersweet telling tone,
were fashioned simply from a feud,
that had with spite and churning brewed:

Harmonia, the God of Sound,
Had accidentally unbound,
The wrath of another god called Mute
(who's cruel intentions formed his suit.)
He claimed that music had no meanings,
that silence formed the only feelings,
that once all sound was gone for good,
the world would prosper as it should.
Harmonia cried he had no right,
to suggest that he turn out the light
of music, sound and all just not,
his silence and that he should rot
away and Mute insulted through
took revenge and evil did ensue:

As a blanket muffles a constant hum,
the silence deigned all ears turn numb.
The world now quiet, clear and deaf,
like a frozen feast before the chef,
became the realm of Mute alone-
the seed of sound had come unsown.

Harmonia watched with shaking eyes,
wishing she could hear the cries,
of the people who screamed a silent ache,
a voiceless life they could not take!
Fury burning, up she flew,
before she let her grief ensue,
she challenged Mute to one last duel,
the last one standing then would rule.
Accepting out of humour; clear,
he mocked her dreams and played her fear,
and the world looked on no way to cheer,
believing that her end was near.

So a moment of peace, apart they drew.
then the oceans erupted and the mountaintops blew.
The lightning was his but the thunder was hers,
and together they swirled, becoming but blurs.
She summoned the dolphins, the bats and the birds,
he ordered the snakes- those living unheard.
She called on the earthquakes, volcanoes, monsoon;
he pulled in the tidal waves, wind and the moon.

Silence and sound both viciously fought,
for a year and a day for power they sought.
Harmonia was weaker but still persevered,
but Mute was too strong and his victory neared.
And with the last of her strength she opened her lips,
and a beatiful tune floated out like a ship,
sailing the emptiness Mute had enforced,
delivering a song, a melody that coursed,
in the veins of all humans and fish in the sea,
the animals and plants who now could be free!

Harmonia had won, with joy the world sang,
from towers and hilltops their melodies rang,
however the god who in losing his plight,
was seething with hatred, still planning to fight.
Shrieking he raged and pummelled a pause,
into Harmonia's heart with such force,
that it fractured her soul and shattered her song,
and she fell from the fight she had fought for so long.

The music in shards simply showered the earth,
and the people in shock forgot all their mirth.
As Harmonia fell the wail from the land,
ruptured the sky, brought tides to a stand.
It smothered the mountains and sliced up the clouds,
crescendoed with pain of inconsolable crowds.
The agony piercingly directed at Mute,
laced with a loathing severe and acute,
overpowered the god who powerless fled,
from the source of the river where suffering bled.

Mute was now gone, their path he'd not cross,
but relief was pale in the shade of their loss.
They mourned their princess of singing who's worth,
owed laying her gently, deep into the earth.

A few years onward a traveller found,
a shard of Harmonia's delicate sound,
discovering another together he sewed
them creating a music that endlessly flowed.
The Patchwork Tunes, (the name so bestowed
by minstrels wandering on the road),
was spread to ears and spirits wide,
to some who danced and some who cried,
and others who could all but laugh,
while drifting within the melody bath.
Harmonia though gone the people had left,
a gift so pure those felt bereft,
were comforted and fully restored,
the beat of the chords and notes they adored.

So moons ago when stars were new,
a dreamer composed a music true,
and though she lies still deep in the runes,
her voice is remembered in The Patchwork Tunes.