The Changeling's Return

[dromaskald]

Here I now stand,
Beneath the bright moon,
On the field where I entered their land.

I came to this place, my mind a-fever
With childhood doubts, crying out to the sky,
To the trees, to the plain, to the river,
To take me somewhere that nought goes awry.

Here where I stand,
On winter's first snow,
My fate first befell at a faerie's hand.

The spirits they heard me, took me away
Into their land, by the barrow-downs' shade.
So fair and so friendly they seemed, those fae,
As they led my footsteps to their green glade.

Here on this spot,
The faerie round danced,
Joyous of everything, caring of nought.

There we danced in the light of the starshine,
In the moonlight we tripped measures fleeting,
Purest nectars we drank sweeter than wine,
Our tongues echoed ever, 'Merry meeting!'

Here on this plain
I gave up my past,
Present, and future to be free of pain.

On the tips of the flowers' bright petals
We cavorted like hummingbirds playing.
We bedecked our long locks with strange metals
That we found on the ground, simply laying.

Here in this place,
This world I left:
But of that far land I see not a trace.

In circles of standing stones we held court,
With dancing and singing all the night long,
And never could worry or care abort
Our feasting, our jollity, or our song.

Here where I stand
I strain for the sound
Of the pipes and drum of the faerie band.

No sadness there in the Land of the Young,
No misery, suffering, pain or woe.
I think back now to the songs that were sung,
In the land where green things ever did grow.

Here in the light
Of the crescent moon,
I listen, seeking their song in the night.

I was not one of their immortal race,
So I could not remain there forever,
And though time but slowly passed in that place,
Time came when their links they had to sever.

Here by this stone
They left me one night,
With great sorrow in their song's haunting tone.

Centuries passed while I danced in their round;
Time ground the world I knew into dust,
But there I stood on the very same ground
Where I gave long ago those fae my trust.

Here I now stand,
Beneath the bright stars,
Remembering joy in the faerie land.