THE UNKNOWN LOVER

When first you came on midnight’s hour, your lips were made of flame.
A stranger passing by you said, I need not know your name.
Your cloak was soft with feathers and your eyes lit from within,
and the kisses that you gave to me I never got from kin.
No mortal man had touched me soft, nor yet come to my bed,
until the night a stranger came and took my Maidenhead.
You came to me at midnight’s hour, you did not come at noon.
You wore the antler horns my love, my Horseman of the Moon.

When next you came the sun was high, you made my body sing.
Your name you would not give to me you gave instead a ring.
Your shoes were made of dragons skin, your touch was like a burn.
And you taught the art of loving to a young girl swift to learn.
No mortal man could swell my heart or cause me so much pain,
that I would leave my kith and kin to lie with him again.
You came to me at noon’s high tide you beckoned me to come.
You wore a diadem of Light, my Dancer in the Sun.

The third time was at dawn glow and you cast a circle round.
You sealed it with a shouted name that echoed without sound.
You wore a shirt of Elven green, your lips they smiled at me,
and the bonny lad we got that day my world will never see.
No mortal man could give such bliss or sire me such a boy
or promise me another babe to fill my heart with joy.
You came to me at dawn glow and I followed without fear,
through the doors of destiny, My Singer of the Crystal Sphere.

I came to you through gates of Stone that circle on the mound.
Your Elven name you gave to me, a secret silver sound.
Upon my feet are golden shoes I go in scarlet dressed.
My bed is where you rest your head, your mouth against my breast.
No mortal man my husband be, with him my soul I’ll share.
And if so be I’m damned for this, that sorrow will I bear.
And yet I know and know full well, that love it knows no bars
and I will love for nevermore, My Walker on the Stars.

(c) 1982 D.Ashcroft-Nowicki