This story that I now will tell, has haunted me for years on end.
It is no lie, no dream or folly, or something that you could pretend.

It happened many years ago.

One day I wandered in the woods
when I saw a slender being, not far away from where I stood.

He was quite tall and seemed to float, I couldn’t really understand,
yet knew that what I saw right there, was not an ordinary man.
I didn’t move, afraid to scare it, startled when it closed in on me;
this hooded person, hovering - his face I could not clearly see.
“Say you, who are you?” I sharply said, my voice still shaky due to shock.
My body quivering, my hands ice-cold, hidden in the seams of my woollen frock.
“Your name, please, sir?” but no reply. Instead this creature now drew near.
I felt how blood, the warmth of life; from my face just disappeared.

And just when I became unwell, I heard the sweetest whisper:

“My name you do not need of me,
but to these words, you’ll listen:
Close your eyes and do not fret,
for the man that you’ve just met
is not a man, but Fairy King,
and to my kingdom I will bring
you, for this day and forever.”

He spoke his words, then silence came. I felt my heart pounding loudly,
for I could not believe what I’d just heard, and so I told him proudly:
“I most certainly shan’t go anywhere with the likes of you!
Go away now, sir, be gone! For I am of good virtue!
How dare you say these things to me! How can you tell me so
surely that I must go with you, when it is you, I do not know?”

Crystal laughter filled my ears and echoed through the trees
which seemed to shake with laughter and joyfully ruffled their leaves.
Around me spring flowers suddenly grew, and I looked around in awe;
crocuses, blue bells, daffodils were among the flowers that I saw.

Suddenly he moved.
I stepped away from where I stood.

But instead of reaching out for me he had taken off his hood.
I looked away, stared at the ground, where now a hundred roses grew,
I felt ashamed, I felt exposed, for he had known what I now knew.

“Look at me” he whispered softly. “Look into my eyes.”
“Give me your heart, and I will rid you of every boredom, dullness, lie.
Come with me, we’ll feast and dance, we’ll be among the sidhe,
we’ll never sleep, we’ll love, and in nature we will be.”

“Look at me” he said again.
And softly touched my cheek,
It was that very moment I looked up and our eyes did meet.
I felt it hard to breathe, as his eyes were the bluest I’d ever seen,
then they turned a hazel brown, then once black, and emerald green.
His body seemed to shimmer, a golden glow from deep within,
lit up the air around him, and reflected on my skin.

Tears filled my eyes, if there was ever something I couldn’t do,
it was to run off with my love, no matter how much I wanted to.
I quickly turned and walked away, for I could no longer stand
to be so close to the Fairy King, who had bid me to his lands.

It has been many years since I walked in forest fair,
where I met my one true love with his glowing skin and darkest hair.
Yet still every shrub I pass; every tree and every flower,
softly speaks out my name.

And now, at my final hour;
a hundred deep red roses, have sprung up around my bed,
I know the time has finally come, I’ll no longer have to fret,
I’ll leave my weary body, I no longer will resist.
I hear the crystal laughter, I grow one with the morning mist,
And there he stands, waiting, the one, my Fairy King.
And from this day, and evermore, we’ll love, we’ll dance and sing.


© 2007, Nathalie
Unknown "Miss Nathalie" Inspired - 16 years, 10 months, 3 days ago