THE FAERIE ON THE MOOR
I met a faerie on the moor :
her hair a braid of purest gold.
her wings a cobweb dew enriched.
her eyes as sapphires blue and cold.
She spoke, her voice like silver bells :
“I greet thee, traveller in the night!
What quest has brought thee to this moor,
alone, with just the stars as guide?”
“For lo, this is an evil place,
a land of leprechauns and gnomes,
where through the pitch black bitter dark
an unnamed, deadly horror roams…”
” But have no feer for thee unseen :
for nothing but a little prize
my hand will guide thee through this land
where on all paths a sure death lies!”
I said to her : “Please tell me then
what prize it is you do desire
for guidance on this hellbound path
of quicksand, mud and deadly mire?”
” Just this” she said : “That I’m by far
the fairest girl that caught your eye!
Be honest though, you’ll walk astray
if it turns out you told a lie!”
” I most regret” I said to her :
” You’re beautiful, that all is true,
but there’s a lovely girl out there
with sunshine hair, and eyes of blue,
a smile that melts the coldest ice :
this beauty queen, just seventeen
is, I must say in honesty
the fairest girl I’ve ever seen!”
She cursed me when she disappeared
and left me standing all alone ;
but though the night was black as hell
deep in my heart your beauty shone.
