Eldermere
O’er Eldermere, where waters gleam beneath a mournful sky,
A specter drifts, a fleeting dream, where none but shadows lie.
Her form, a veil of silver mist, doth glide with silent grace,
A ghost condemned to ever list the winds that wail her place.
No name she bears, no voice to sing, her tale is lost to time,
Yet in her eyes, a sorrowing, reflects a mortal crime.
Her hair, like reeds, flows wild and wan, entwined with spectral dew,
Her hands outreach, then fade anon, to grasp what once she knew.
By night, the lake, with mirror’d sheen, reveals her anguished face,
A maiden fair, now dim, serene, in death’s unyielding embrace.
The willows bow, their branches weep, as if they know her pain,
And murmur low, in whispers deep, of love that died in vain.
Once, legends tell, she loved too well, a heart too pure for guile,
Her lover’s vow, a fleeting spell, betrayed by cruel exile.
Upon this shore, her life was torn, her blood did stain the wave,
And now her shade, forever sworn, doth haunt Eldermere’s grave.
The villagers, with fearful tread, avoid the water’s edge,
For those who see her, cold and dead, are doomed to sorrow’s pledge.
Her gaze, a chill that pierces bone, doth bind the soul to dread,
And bids the heart to roam alone, where living hopes have fled.
O wretched wraith, what chains thee here, to float o’er waters cold?
Thy silent cry, no mortal ear, can hear, nor tale unfold.
The stars above, in distant scorn, no solace deign to send,
They watch thy form, forever worn, where time and grief contend.
At midnight’s hour, when tempests moan, she rises from the deep,
Her voice, a sigh, a spectral groan, that lulls the lake to sleep.
The ripples bear her mournful plea, across the glassy tide,
Yet none shall set her spirit free, nor bid her rest abide.
Let darkness cloak her endless flight, let silence be her pyre,
No dawn shall break her ceaseless night, nor quench her heart’s desire.
O’er Eldermere, her shade shall roam, where love and life are gone,
A ghost adrift, without a home, in twilight’s endless song.
