The Chain

The hag freely shared her ken

Not only herbs and roots she took

Also showed the secret ways

For human's health, life and care.

Her apprentice was an ambitious child

All too quick she learned to enchant

Impatiently she swallowed the old formulas

Could fastly mumble them by heart.

Instead of keeping quiet about the occult teachings

She started bragging in the city 

So it happened that she accepted a bid

To wipe out a man barely shocked her.

Deeply she dug into the heart of her power

Misused what she had just been told

Thus a child died so that one fell from the throne

A city became black, a mother screamed.

The hag however immersed in grief.

For the chain snapped, it was millennia-old.

No transmission anymore from woman to woman

The knowledge lost, 'cause the ring was rotten.

Not until an era later a woman woke up

After a long, rueful night

Finally rembering the precious ken

And able to close the chain again