Rocza's Song
Mark A. Mandel Copr. 2004
I fly across the jungle on silent leather wings
To seek my prey of lizards, rats, and other, smaller things.
But I much prefer the leavings of some greater hunter's kill,
To feast upon the riches left when she has had her fill.
Well-fed, she is no threat to me, and me she does not fear,
And while she takes her rest, no other predator comes near.
I hunt and scavenge, eat and sleep; at times I rest or play,
And someday I will take a mate, and I will die someday.
Nearby I hear a struggle, and cries and panting breath.
The battle is unequal, and soon will come a death.
The scent upon the breeze is strange, but as I circle in
I hear a voice within my mind that calls to me as kin.
"Long life I offer and red meat; I ask of you your aid--
For now, to save my life!" He sinks; I feel the contact fade.
I fly in the attacker's face, he turns to swing at me;
The other strikes him dead, then falls. I answer: "I agree."
I stay with the Provider now, and him who is my mate.
Beyond the jungle that I knew, the world is strange and great.
I help him every way I can, he always feeds me well,
Although our minds spoke only on that day he cast his spell.
He knows my mate as "Loiosh", and "Rocza" he calls me,
And Loiosh tells me what he wants and tells him what I see.
The years have touched me lightly, though they do not pass me
by...
I think no jhereg in the world more fortunate than I.
Rocza: RAW-tsah
Loiosh: LOY-ohsh
jhereg: ZHEH-reg (according to meter of the spell)
The spell (_Jhereg_, Ace edition, sixth printing, February 1987, pages
225-226, copyright 1983 by Stephen K. Z. Brust; typo corrected):
Come to me, blood of my House. Join me, hunt with me, find me.
Let the winds of Jungle's night
Stay the hunter in her flight.
Evening's breath to witch's mind
Let our fates be intertwined.
Jhereg! Do not pass me by!
Show me where thy soul doth lie!