Mrs Li
It’s entirely written to the tune of Bruce Springsteen’s version of Mrs McGrath.
The idea is it’s the lament of a woman with kids on deployment, and kind of a marching song. It ends before she gets any word about her kid(s), and Li is a very common name so she’s basically the archetypal mother. The line about hair pinning is in reference to married women putting up their hair (girls tend to wear it down). It’s 12 years and a girl general, because I wondered about what it’d be like to be from Hua Mulan’s hometown.
I dunno what Bruce Springsteen would look like in Korra. (Spinoff??) Anyway. This is for a rough outline I’m working on.
The sergeant said, "Now, Mrs Li, Do you know what it is I see? A shining coat in vivid green, A saber with a silver sheen.
"Your little ones are growing strong, Their eyes are clear and their reach is long, Let them bring you splendid fame, As players in the soldier's game."
Ay-ay, so do we say, So long gone and far away, Ay-ay, the little ones play, In the dregs of the ending day.
Daily gazing at the seas, The heavens do ignore the pleas Of those of us now left behind, Praying just for peace of mind.
Boys too young to grow a beard, One by one they disappeared, Girls too young to pin their hair, Walked away in the morning air.
Ay-ay, so do we say, So long gone and far away, Ay-ay, the little ones play, In the dregs of the ending day.
Twelve long years in counted hours, Calendars of higher powers, My neighbour's daughter has come home, Her hair pierced by a General's comb.
What star is it that's overhead, That bleeds a bitter drip of dread? What wind is it that furls your sail, Doldrums or a savage gale?
Ay-ay, so do we say, So long gone and far away, Ay-ay, the little ones play, In the dregs of the ending day.
The greater your heart the longer you're gone, I curse myself for doing wrong, The Sergeant skulks around the school, Why didn't I raise a gentle fool?
There’s another verse but it’s not heard/sung. As of yet.