I met her going to the fair,
Upon a country road,
A bow was tied about her hair
Which to her shoulders flowed.
The spark of youth shone in her eyes
In pools of emerald green,
Her body was of average size
Yet pretty to be seen.
The whitest dress I ever saw
Swept lightly about her feet,
And around her neck a rabbits claw
Clung in the summer heat.
She smiled thinly, bowed her head
And curtsied with true grace,
And then with timid words she said
"My lord what is this place?"
"The road to Danbury Fair," said I,
"And yonder to the coast,
Please walk with me a by and by
And I shall prove my boast."
A quarter mile, a half-a-mile,
My recollection fails,
We strolled in silent trance like style
All through the sun stroked dales.
Until upon a certain spot
No different than the rest,
The atmosphere that once was hot
Blew with a chilling zest.
Then suddenly the sky grew dim
As sun and light withdrew,
And darkness conquered every limb
Above us that was blue.
The woman gave a startled cry
And fell onto her knees,
"Right here is where I cut the tie
With man's mortalities.
My soul will never rest in peace
But always I shall be
A spirit with an earthly lease
Now and eternally."
A pounding heart betrayed my fear
At this unnatural sight,
But paralysed I could not steer
Myself away in flight.
Instead I watched with heavy breath,
This other worldly power
Tell of her own untimely death
Which cut her youthful flower.
A tale of highway treachery,
So long ago it seems,
Resulted in her pedigree
Dissolved from living themes.
And now with woeful discontent
She grieves her swift demise,
By stirring up the firmament
Over where her body lies.
Though boldness purged my nervous root,
My daring came too late,
The questions posed in minds pursuit
Never formed into debate.
For soon the apparition waned
And vanished from my view,
The clouds dispersed, the sun regained
Its former vibrant hue.
And me, my ordeal done at last,
I stood with nought to say,
A victim of a tragic past
That haunts the Danbury Way.

I left my cares upon the clouds
That drifted slowly up on high,
And watched unburdened from the ground
As each one floated gently by.

The breeze shall carry them afar,
Across the bluebell covered lea,
Beyond the winking Evenstar
And on towards the rolling sea.

My heart's world weariness has waned
And leaps instead to find release,
A soul that once was vexed and pained
Can now perhaps revisit peace.

The bright star of my life has dimmed
And casts in shade the years before,
When hope and love and longing brimmed
My youthful cup, but now no more.

Where is the time, those heady days
I courted brashly, blind and bold,
And squandered in so many ways
Without a thought of growing old.

Where have you gone my perfect youth
That once my heart and soul defined,
For now I face a dreadful truth,
Less days to come than left behind.

O gentle night, lend me your grace,
The hour is late and I must rest,
Give up my mortal earthly place
And take the unknown journey west.

Mourn not our parting, shed no tears,
All things are fated not to last,
I lived a full life all these years,
Remember this when I have passed.

The longest dark awaits me now,
The deepest sleep I e'er shall take,
One exhaled breath my final bow,
And then this life I will forsake.

Delirium.
I am cast down.
Cannot the damning fires of hell be quenched?
The raging flames torment my winged breast,
And O the heat infects me with it's pain.
Behold the testimony to an unjust God,
Jehovah's mercy absent unto me,
For here I stand condemned of heinous crimes
And wrongly judged unclean eternally.
My Gehenna,
My fiery plateau,
My kingdom of unremitting hate,
Wage war upon the heavenly host
And those that would desire Him most.

The subtle shimmers of the candlelight
Reveal the hidden shadows of the night,
And beckons forward faces from the past,
A long lost love, the first but not the last.
An old acquaintance from so long ago
Is recreated in the yellow glow,
But fades again when some elusive draught
Proclaims my own ineptness for The Craft.