Happy Birthday, Sis!

Over the years, it’s become a tradition that I write a line or two to the “Irish Drinking Song” game they used to play on Whose Line is it Anyway?  Especially for my sister’s birthday, which is today!

This is a true story:  how The Rose of Shanhasson came to be.

O, hidey-hidey hidey-hidey hidey-hidey ho, it’s down the road we go!

Five years and more it’s been,

Since Sis called with a grin.

“I have a secret now to tell,

I’m so excited I could yell!”

 

Her first book was complete,

Beginning to end replete.

I begged and begged a chance to read,

But crafty Sis had a case to plead.

O, hidey-hidey hidey-hidey hidey-hidey ho, it’s down the road we go!

 

“I know you’re writing too, dear Sis,

Exchange for mine with no desist.”

Agog, I choked and hummed and hawed,

Afraid and honestly, a bit in awe.

 

I wrote, sometimes, when the mood arose,

But never finished any prose.

“Fair is fair!” Trumped my dear Sis.

“All you’ve got; I insist!”

 O, hidey-hidey hidey-hidey hidey-hidey ho, it’s down the road we go!

 

With trembling hands, I sent the file

First story, I’d been dreaming a while,

Trying to finish but not quite sure,

Whether or not I would endure.

 

Then Sis replied, “You have to finish!

Your love for this story nothing diminish!

You have to get Shannari free,

And back to Rhaekhar, so I decree!”

O, hidey-hidey hidey-hidey hidey-hidey ho, it’s down the road we go!

 

And so, dear friends, that’s how I came,

My first story, finished, to Sis the blame.

In all these years, she still is there,

Cheering, hugging, sending her care.

 

Without her love I would be lost,

Adrift on the sea and wildly tossed.

So lift your mug and raise your voice,

“ Best Sister Friend, there’s no other choice!”

O, hidey-hidey hidey-hidey hidey-hidey ho, it’s down the road we go!