Manticore's Lullabye

May your dreams be all of sun

And heated sand, and sky

When you wake may all your singing

Help your heart to fly

May you never be closed in an amber cage

With an amber lock and key

May you roar and sing beneath the sun

And the shade of the upas tree

Bear your tiny teeth, my child

The sun will fall in love with you

And teach you how to sting and roar

And sing and kill, as fathers do.

Turn your prayer to sky and sand

Nomatter where you fall

May the desert echoes teach you

All their secret songs

My amber cage had an amber lock

And the girl had an amber key

And a manticore was bound and sore

In the city in the trees.

My amber cage had an amber lock

And the good girl a key of her own

She set me free with a shining smile

And far from all cages we roam

May the desert echoes hold you

In their ruddy paws

May your prayer be heard by sky and sand

Nomatter where you fall

May you never be closed in an amber cage

With an amber lock and key

May you roar and sing beneath the sun

And the shade of the upas tree