*I was thinking about some of the characters in my new novel, when this one jumped out at me. A spy for someone evil, and yet he has a good heart and does something wonderful and self-sacrificing at the end. I wondered about why he was like that... and I guess this is my answer.*



Hush, hush little baby boy
your mama is gone, but your papa's nearby
he rocks you to sleep and sings a lullaby
hush, hush little baby boy

Bright-eyed boy, growing,
and watching him draw
the lines of the mountains that one time we saw
the peaks of the cities that scrape the skies with their claws
you have many nightmares from the cavixarr's jaws
but your papa is there to come when you call

But nightmares turn to truth
when the silent ones came
they held a sword to his throat and he called you by name
he blocked the way long enough for you to barely escape
wearing your mother's old quilt as a cape

The years went by, and innocence lost
in the fight with yourself you paid a terrible cost
like the waves of the ocean through life you were tossed
to wash up ashore on bare beaches of loss

And now you are safe with a stone at your throat
and a false sense of warmth in your dark-colored coat
there is no hope beyond a knife in your hilt
but then why do you still keep a scrap of that quilt?

Then one day a girl weeps a crystalline tear
and you see in her eyes all the pain and the fear
this is yourself, from the now-distant years
and you feel as if your papa was never so near

The shattered heart cried out to be saved
and without second thoughts you leaped into the fray
but in rescuing them, you yourself were betrayed
and yet you didn't mind that price to pay...

Hush, hush, map-maker's son
now you are free, you have always been loved
You will sail with the sun and the stars up above
Hush now, and sleep, oh map-maker's son.