ELAINE OF ASTOLAT [Intro – Quiet Harp • Solo Cello] [Emotion: lonely, intimate, wistful] At Astolat, the morning came with mist across the fields. A wounded knight was brought inside, and time began to yield. She saw the man beneath the steel, the tiredness in his eyes. She did not know that loving him would be her last goodbye. [Verse 1] [Emotion: tender, hopeful, quietly falling in love] She cared for him through silent days, she stayed beside his bed. She heard the stories of his life, the words he never said. He wore her token when he rode to face the coming fight. She watched him leave beneath the sun and waited through the night. She thought perhaps a borrowed love might one day become true. But every road beneath his feet was leading him from her. [Refrain] [Emotion: gentle, yearning] Ride on, my knight, wherever you must go. I will remain where you once stayed, though you will never know. Ride on, my knight... I loved you quietly. [Verse 2] [Emotion: growing sorrow, restrained heartbreak] He returned the token to her hands, then thanked her for her care. There was no cruelty in his voice, no promise hidden there. She knew he had another love, a queen beyond her reach. And still she kept his name inside the words she could not speak. The castle grew so quiet then. The summer turned to rain. She tried to teach her heart to stop, but love refused to fade. [Refrain] [Emotion: more fragile, aching] Ride on, my knight, wherever you must go. I will remain where you once stayed, though you will never know. Ride on, my knight... I loved you silently. [Verse 3] [Emotion: exhausted, deeply sorrowful] Her hands grew cold. Her voice grew weak. The days became too long. She heard the river from her room, she heard the distant song. She knew no vow had been betrayed, no promise had been made. She could not blame the man she loved for loving someone else. And that was why her sorrow hurt more deeply than her tears. [Bridge – Almost Whispered] [Emotion: accepting, broken, peaceful] If love must end, let mine be kind. No anger... No blame... Only one last word I could not say. She asked for parchment. She asked for flowers. She asked for one small boat. And with her final breath, she wrote the truth her heart had carried alone. [Verse 4] [Emotion: solemn, fading] They placed her in the little boat, a lily in her hand. The river carried Elaine away from Astolat toward the land. The morning mist surrounded her, the water moved so slow. And no one heard the final words she wished that he should know. [Final Refrain – Expanding Female Choir] [Emotion: devastating, mournful, transcendent] Ride on, my knight, wherever you must go. I loved you without asking for a love you could not show. Ride on, my knight... The river takes me now. If you ever think of Elaine, remember how she loved you. [Outro – Solo Harp • Cello • Fading Female Choir] [Emotion: almost whispered, mournful, forgotten, eternal] And when the years had passed, the court remembered the story... But not the girl. Not the eyes. Not the voice. Not the heart that waited. Only a fading tale of a woman who loved a knight. And somewhere beyond the river, her last whisper still remains... Elaine.
