Faerie Dance

Thro' the shroud the darkness holds
The fires blaze with fury untold.
There the maiden clothe in red
Dances round, gleaming hair atop her head.
All my thoughts did ebb away
Like the night when doth turn day.
Ne'er did I spy a maid so fair
Garbed in scarlet with chestnut hair.
The ancient megaliths tower high
Under the clouded autumn sky
As the raven in his darkened guile
Perches upon the stone all the while.
The drums pulse thro' the earth,
She sees the magic at its birth
Saith she to the dancing flame,
Crying out as magic came
With staff of ashwood topped with horn
Of the stag slain at morn,
Round the fire she drew a magic ring.
To the maiden, enchantment it brings
Mysterious Child of the Fay
Your spell upon me you doth lay
"I hath thy mortal heart enthralled
You have come forth when I called."
Out of the bracken did I step
She ceased the dance and our eyes met.
The tune died with the breeze
As it drew strong 'cross the aspen trees.
She tapped her shaft upon the earth;
Thrice leapt the flame of her hearth
As I heard the young voice sing,
I tramped into her magic ring.
Towards me, quietly she came
I saw her eyes glint with the flame
Her lips on mine, sweet as the flower
That grows outside the summer bower.
As the fire before us burned,
I felt the bile within me churn.
From sickening magic I did swoon
And came to lay amid this gloom.
Joined am I with victims claimed
By the Fay and magic flame.
I gaze o'er a world not mine
With spells unbroken, spells entwined.
Grey-faced warriors stare at me
And I wonder what they see.
But a fool which Faerie hath kiss'd
I am as they, lost in the mist...