Sidhe

A young man once a wand’ring went
He deemed he’d come of age
He severed every earthly tie
And cursed his home a cage

His tracks, which trailed the setting sun
A thousand furlongs spanned
Pressed in clay and marked in mud
And printed on the sand

At last he reached the border peaks
With which the world is crowned
He sought a tarn to bathe his feet
And such a tarn he found

“A giant cupped his gnarléd hand
To pool the liquid sky”
“Some vain goddess’s looking glass
Let fall and then let lie”

So read his later vain attempts
To capture with his pen
A crystal well of wilderness
Transcending mortal ken

Yet as he stood in reverie
The nightfall stole around
Starlight glittered high above
And mist rose from the ground

And then, reflected in the tarn
The starlight coalesced
Our hero’s inner fantasy
Of loveliness, expressed!

Her skin was white as angels’ robes
Her hair swirled black as pitch
Two shards of ice comprised her eyes
Two drops of blood her lips

But as he bent to better see
His touch disturbed the water
Her face dissolved and left him only
Faint and distant laughter

Now memory fades, unwanted thoughts
Disturb him in the dark
Was she merely fancy spun
To sooth a lonely heart?