Beneath the moon of the ancient oak,
he waited for her beside a running stream;
cloaked in Knightly armour and shining stars,
he defended their forbidden truth
by the river where they lay unseen.

In noble honour he did walk,
as the night travelled on in dream,
and she walked to his side with beauty,
and with a sadness in her heart that would remain
until the oak fell with the calling of their name.

The stars watched as the two joined hearts -
her, the Princess of another land,
but the spirit of only one.
Her Knight was loyal to her and she to him,
and they would know no other
even as the stars grew mournfully dim.

He placed a flower in her hair
beneath the moon of full.
They rode upon his proud mare,
and chased the wind,
and chased the dream,
of the Princess and her Knight.

They danced in forests beneath the stars,
through which he gallantly rode,
pledged life and death by his sword
and by their souls,
Of the Princess and her Knight.

But fate spun her dice and threw her tears
into the winding river;
the Princess chained to another one,
a ghost of Princely fear.

And into her heart
where he wrote in terror,
the Dark Prince would always go,
and with the deepest sadness and the blackest of hearts;
the sorrow and pain the Prince would show.

The oak fell silent in the whispering night,
as fate and chance played on;
for he had told her her Knight was gone,
and left her for his death;
but she knew even beyond the skies, and beyond the moon
that eternal lovers would they be,
the Princess and her Knight.

And so to the castle she ran in sorrow,
as his story of her Knight
bled oceans in her heart.
Her silken dress flew on the wind,
and her tears flowed into the river,
as she fell to her death from the tower above,
chasing the love he had lied good bye.

Into the silence she quietly fell,
floating into a watery grave
but never forgotton in the crusade
of the Princess and her Knight.

But her Knight ran up the winding stairs,
And saw her fall as she whispered his name,
but fate had taken her into her arms,
and the Knight cried out in heartache;
but the time had come
and the oak had died,
he had run to the castle much too late.

Her body lay wrapped in the whitest of snow,
the mourning for her Princess crown.
The Knight, in despair, sought his revenge,
and gathered his fellow braves
to bring the Dark Prince crashing down.

She watched from above,
and her tears rained down upon him,
blessing him with the moon's soft craft.
The Knight invaded the storm,
and his armour shone with brave beauty,
as he rode into the dark castle to avenge his Love.

And there they stood;
the Knight in front of the Prince of Dark,
their hatred screamed as the rain poured down,
and she watched from beside him,
the ghost of her,
the Princess waiting,
for parted in sorrow as lovers they were.

She cried softly beside him,
as the lightning wailed and struck down,
and the Knight and the Princess
cried a sorrowful good bye.
The Knight, once again, ran up the winding stairs
the apparition of his Princess by his side,
his eyes were wild and his heart broken,
as the ghost oak softly cried.

The Prince and the Knight came close
and he struck at him with screaming force,
but the arrows from above he did not see
the arrows the the dark lightening had stricken out.

It struck him swiftly, in his heart,
and blood of Spirit and blood of Love
cried out as he fell to the ground,
his Brave's gathered round his side.

She waited for him as he closed his eyes,
and he was buried, by her side.
Wrapped together in a forever they became
the oak which had died twice.
And the river drew in a breath with the calling -
of the Princess and her Knight.

For Mike - August, 1998