I will sing our comfort [Saimaa area, Year 0]

[roesslyng]

Title: I will sing our comfort
Fandom: Stand Still, Stay Silent
Characters/Pairing: Citizens of the Saimaa area, Year 0
Rating: 0+
Length: 26 lines
Summary: Because comfort, now, is what we need.
Other: Meant to be a similar idea to Bury your fears, bury your dead.
Prompt was #92; "All that I have".



I will sing our comfort

Take to your boats, take to the water
take each other's hands while you're at it.
The dead stir in their graves
because we didn't bury them deep enough
so go where they can't follow.

When the sky is bright, that's when I'll do it
pluck the strings, set down protection
weave these notes to keep us safe.
Laugh if you want, and look down your nose
but what could it hurt? Tell me that.

These magic songs will be our comfort
if nothing else, so let it be
as comfort, now, is what we need
here in this dark, on these scattered islands.

I hear you listening to that radio
as the lights go out over our thousand lakes.
Helsinki Turku Oulu
Kajaani Lahti Tampere
From the north crackles a voice, whispering,
"We're still here, we're still here,
we're still holding out."

Then all black noise sharp in cold air
I can tell by your eyes, you hear
the voices beneath it, the screams.
So don't tell me my songs are nothing;
I will sing our safety and our sorrow.

Comments

[minutia_r]

I like this approach to magic coming back--usually when I write it it's more personal (as opposed to communal) and less ambiguous, so this is an interesting alternative. And the bare recitation of the names of cities that have gone silent sent a chill down my spine.

[yuuago]

<3 Thank you! Typically I see magic as personal, but then I thought about the idea of song as bringing people together, while also song = magic, so...

Re: the names, I'm glad it was effective. This part was actually inspired by a WWII-era radio broadcast from Norway, while the Nazi invasion was taking place - the announcer was listing cities that had already fallen, and others that were still under fire.