The Atonement
“Where are you going, pale stranger,
In this hour not of man’s reign?
Don’t you know this road is long
And makes babes of the strong,
For the wild fashions folly into pain?”
“So you think you know of danger?”
The young lady replied as she neared
And through the dark she could espy
A glister of gold in his eye
“I know and can teach,” he jeered,
“For there are crueler fires
Than burn in a lady’s desires
And there is a song in the sky -
Eternally singing, ‘goodbye’”
He offered her food, she declined
He offered his bed, she refused
He said, “It’s yourself that you spite
Sleeping alone tonight -
I’d hate to see you self-abused.”
But he had darker thoughts in his mind
For though he seemed a handsome man,
She knew that golden eyes
Marked a goblin’s disguise
And the monster called after her as she ran:
“Why run? There are stronger fires
Than hope, which so easily tires,
And there is a song in the sky -
A requiem for those who try”
She hid in a tree, where she could see
All of his movements below
Though her head rang, softly she sang
With her voice tender and low,
“Strength, lift me up, and Justice, bear me down
Upon Love’s common foe
On anger will I sup, and in sorrow will I drown
And fill the sky with a song of woe.”
Down she leapt with a cry
Pinning him with a strength he hadn’t feared
Bleeding and pegged,
“Mercy!” he begged
“You’ll sooner find it in hell!” she sneered
So she watched him die
And weeping, all she could contrive
To say as she rose
Was, “Golden eyes such as those
Were the last to see my true love alive,
And there are no hotter fires
Than my passion inspires.
Should I ever hear the song in the sky,
I pray it be a lullaby.”
“Where are you going, pale stranger?
You roam as if you are blind
With that gold gleam in your eyes.”
“I know not,” she replies,
“Now that I am the last of my kind.”
In this hour not of man’s reign?
Don’t you know this road is long
And makes babes of the strong,
For the wild fashions folly into pain?”
“So you think you know of danger?”
The young lady replied as she neared
And through the dark she could espy
A glister of gold in his eye
“I know and can teach,” he jeered,
“For there are crueler fires
Than burn in a lady’s desires
And there is a song in the sky -
Eternally singing, ‘goodbye’”
He offered her food, she declined
He offered his bed, she refused
He said, “It’s yourself that you spite
Sleeping alone tonight -
I’d hate to see you self-abused.”
But he had darker thoughts in his mind
For though he seemed a handsome man,
She knew that golden eyes
Marked a goblin’s disguise
And the monster called after her as she ran:
“Why run? There are stronger fires
Than hope, which so easily tires,
And there is a song in the sky -
A requiem for those who try”
She hid in a tree, where she could see
All of his movements below
Though her head rang, softly she sang
With her voice tender and low,
“Strength, lift me up, and Justice, bear me down
Upon Love’s common foe
On anger will I sup, and in sorrow will I drown
And fill the sky with a song of woe.”
Down she leapt with a cry
Pinning him with a strength he hadn’t feared
Bleeding and pegged,
“Mercy!” he begged
“You’ll sooner find it in hell!” she sneered
So she watched him die
And weeping, all she could contrive
To say as she rose
Was, “Golden eyes such as those
Were the last to see my true love alive,
And there are no hotter fires
Than my passion inspires.
Should I ever hear the song in the sky,
I pray it be a lullaby.”
“Where are you going, pale stranger?
You roam as if you are blind
With that gold gleam in your eyes.”
“I know not,” she replies,
“Now that I am the last of my kind.”