The Wager
Hi, dear friends and followers. Today I have another fascinating fantasy poem, composed by me, for you. Take five minutes relax and enjoy. Thank you
“Who can prove that fairies do not exist?”
Charlotte said as she laughed and danced in the woods.
At the end of a whirl, she stopped and turned,
her suitor, Donovan was close behind.
Her story resumed as they walked the worn pathway:
"In these woods most every night,
forest spirits come to pass the time.
They meet, as we, and talk, and dance,
and share their joy and gaiety and mirth."
“Oh, my dear prince, my life is your life.
Here, in this wood, we can merge as one.
One with each other and one with the fairies."
Donavan stammers, then finds his voice:
"Certainly you jest, o mistress so coy.
Fairies exist, but as stuff of stories told:
legends for children by the storyteller's hearth."
"The joke of a whimsical time are they,
as legends do, they come and go.
In the course of time they are here and gone."
“Then come with me, Donovan!" Charlotte exclaimed.
"Show you, I will, or are you afraid to discover,
that the fairies are real, as real as you and I?"
"What have you to lose, my precious prince?
Come, follow me," and she motioned onward.
Gracefully she passed, through thicket and sod,
weaving her way as though forest-born;
traversing as mist, with feet not on earth.
Charlotte suddenly stopped and to Donavan turned;
"Tonight is the full moon, the night of their dance;
pray, let us stay, and share in their joy."
Donavan spoke not a word of reply,
and looked like he had not heard his lady's last
and hoped that her folly had in the wind passed.
But on her hips Charlotte placed her hands,
and with a sideways smile made him think again.
Her eyes fairly gleamed in the late day's sun
as she resumed her trek to see the fairies dance.
She then turned toward the deepest, darkest woods.
Donovan followed, knowing full well
that wherever they went, they would need to walk home!
"You will see, my prince, that your judgment has erred;
of things unseen, you surely will see,
when the fairies come to dance and play."
Charlotte danced as she walked and in pantomime did
the dance of the fairies she knew they would dance.
The shadows grew longer as evening's dark fell
when they arrived at the clearing, a brook by its side,
that made a crystalline sound no chime could ever make,
as over its stony bottom it flowed.
Charlotte sat upon the moss that grew near the brook,
and asked Donovan to join her, to savor the evening.
A breathtaking night it was, indeed,
with a star-laced sky and the sound of the brook
as the background for all of the night sounds of the forest.
For Donavan's heart, this place contained
all the magic he desired this night, he mused.
No more was needed at this place or time,
least of all fairy magic - he laughed at that thought.
Holding hat to his chest, he bowed to her with a smile:
"One more thing, milady, to add spice to this night;
a wager, I think, to make the walk worth your while.
If the fairies do come, I shall buy for you
a new gown of your choosing, regardless of cost.
And your hand in marriage should you take a loss."
Charlotte laughed with abandon, "I will take that bet."
"A clever man you are, for I win either way!"
I would be a fool to let this wager pass --- "
Then stopped abruptly, turned and gave him her hand.
"It is done!" she exclaimed, then crossed her arms
and smiled the smile of a confident rival.
The evening grew thicker and a cool mist arose
and hung from the creek and gave the night a chill.
The damps got to Donovan, who had second thoughts:
"What a night to set out on so foolish quest."
But the cold from without was also within;
"No fairies will be out, even if they do exist.
They will be home, at hearthside, a place I now miss."
So Donavan thought, the wager made him stay.
And so they sat, close to each other for warmth.
The moonlight shone on the horizon's east
and it brightened the landscape as it cleared the trees.
"This was where it happened on that early August night,"
Charlotte said with confidence, though not sure she was right.
Thus they sat waiting for an eternity or more -
But the moon had only gone past midnight.
Suddenly a sound, a distant air of music;
they came like marionettes, prancing, twirling!
They came with flashes of light and color,
As through the woods, in and around trees.
At the forest's edge, in a clearing by the brook,
they played and danced and sang and cheered,
and Mother Nature's own joined in the chorus!
They fluttered in, carried on the mist,
as butterflies flutter, they came to the clearing,
dancing with joy in the air!
Several drew quite near to Charlotte and her prince.
For them, time stopped moving; the fairies made it so.
They were lost in a whirlpool that swirled in their minds
but were sure that they were sitting, together, at the brook.
Yet in the dance they were taken, like a leaf to the wind,
to join the merriment of the fairies on the brook's other side.
The night all about them moved but slightly;
and within the circle, time moved not.
Just as quickly as lightning one fairy approached;
it moved quicker than any eye can ever see.
To try to capture it would be like trapping a ghost;
a fool's errand, if there ever be.
Charlotte looked at Donavan, whose countenance had fallen.
"My sweet prince," she said, "I have won the gown!"
"But in this wager you have nothing lost,
For in marriage will I gladly take your hand.
And they danced in the air with fairy folk they met.
Two more believers in the fairy magic were they.
Composed by Cynthia©
✿ ڰۣ❤In Loving Light from the Fairy Lady❤ڰۣ✿
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