In night amid the morrow door
Did a light awake
And to that light did he go ‘tor
Killan akin that lake
Dreams of beauty he wandered
A maid there upon the sand
Gazing far between the Rhoderon
And to his heart she did command
“Hello,” he called in a whisper
And she met his longing stare
But ran did she to the bower
Of that sylvan woods so near
Search did he for that woman
A fairy of beauty pure
With eyes as bright as dawn
And hair of golden shore
“Maid, come back,” he called out
But stillness was in the air
Thrushes shout surround about
Yet, no maid with flowing hair
Killan left that wooded dell
And heavy were his feet
As he trod and climbed the heartless fell
With heart new incomplete
But through the sparrow’s morning din
He heard a voice melodious
“I am Elira,” she said to him
And her smile diaphanous
For days they sat intwined
Hand in hand on the mead
And spoke of each their kind
Until their love grew tall as weeds
A wren fluttered from bough of elm
And summoned Elira come
To the halls of that elven realm
For they ordered their princess home
But that call to Killan repined
Like a song bereft of melody
Elira left back to her own kind
The song turned to threnody
But each year she visited that sacred spot
And for a day they were the same
Though ages passed, neither ever forgot
That day their love reclaim
Year after year, the ages dwindled
Until Killan grew old and bent
But to Elira forever that fire kindled
Bright as the firmament
At the last, there was a day
Killan’s breath fell from his lips
A tear ran down that silent fae
Her heart forever ‘clipsed
But gently that tear landed at their feet
And sprout grew from the ground
A single stem from which two trees meet
Both oaken and linden crown
So still lives their solemn vow
Amidst the cerulean sky
Like their fingers rest the boughs
Forever the winds will sigh
THE WAYFARER 