|
|
With weary gait I wandered Into a sequestered wood Whereby happenstance I recalled from childhood - A series of events Which gave the area its name. It was only me and Nature, But we gave it all its fame. Apollo had retired, And my mother fallen ill. My father was away and all In me could not stay still. My feet would ask no questions, Both my lungs kept all their breath- Little atria aquiver- Underneath the moon, I left. Unsteady steps, they took me Far past the trodden path. In nervousness I wondered If it wasn't Our Father's wrath. I held myself too tightly For much breath to escape. In sitting on a broken log, I chattered in my quake. When far off in the distance A light appeared to me. This glowing ball was floating, Dancing through every tree. And this, I did conjecture To be some kind of fey Who had been sent to lead me Back from where I'd gone astray. With unseen wings it flitted, An ethereal majesty, Through bracken, deeply dewy, It lit the lane for me. It couldn't be much further For I heard my name called out. The tones of our good preacher Were, for me, moved to shout. I made my way much faster To the end of the dark wood Tears ran warm down both my cheeks When there the parson stood. He took me in his arms And scolded me for being wry, Led me to my dwelling when I recommenced my cry. "What now," the good man asked me "Has got you all upset?" For in looking back I saw no light My glowing friend had left. I told him my whole story Of the darkness and the blaze. He laughed and called it fancy, Though I questioned his queer gaze. In the coming of the morning It was spread about the town Of the child and the lantern Oh, it was of renown. And so they named that thicket Rife with bracken and of lore "Faerie Field" for my savior, To be remembered evermore. So here I stand, much later, And my chest, it still constricts I rest here on a broken log While anxiety afflicts. When suddenly, out of the dark, A floating light appeared I felt it came to calm me, Lay to rest all that I feared. Then close came my own faerie To lead me to the heel Of the darkness all surrounding This lost mystery made real. My bleak brow it then brightened And grim mouth raised where it stopped For in stepping through the shadows All worry's weight had been dropped. With livened gait I wandered Out of the sequestered wood Whereby happenstance I'd revived everything good. |