Fey "Go fetch your youngest sister home; It is almost supper-time." So I was told, because she had roamed Farther than our calls could climb. So I climbed the steep and stony mountain, Calling her name the while. I heard the laughter of a snow-born fountain, And then a sound more sweet and wild. Cautiously, I entered a meadow that in spring Was covered with flowers fair, A meadow where she liked to dance and sing, And caper without a care. There she was, dancing in the twilit grass, Head flung back, and laughter Trailing each twirling, twinkling pass, Like a cloak spun after. Her head was flung back; hair trailed too, Dark as the deepening night. Her eyes flashed the clear and lively blue That enchanted by whatever light. But it was not her that made me stop and start, And stare with narrowed eyes. A lady who seemed a match for her in heart Sat upon a stone and smiled like sunrise. Her gown was white as my sister's was red; Like two roses in full bloom They complemented each other; her pale head Shone like my sister's night sky's moon. Long white hair spilled like fountain-water Over her hands and down. Who was she, what lone farmer's wife or daughter? Surely none could afford that gown. And then I saw her eyes, like molten metal, Deep and rich as starlight. I could not catch my breath; my heart, unsettled, Galloped as if I would take flight. My sister, capering, turned and saw me there; She came over, dancing. She gave a shy glance back through her satin hair, At her strange dance-mentor glancing. The fey lady sat on her stone and looked up at me, No welcome upon her face. But no such human emotion should I hope to see Within that Faerie maiden's grace. "Dance with me!" said my sister, and my hands I found clasped and taken. I could think only of starlit dances in faery lands During what followed, I was so shaken. The fey lady rose, with a shimmer, to her feet; I expected her to flee. But she came up to us with the grace of a hind fleet And with the slowness of a living tree. She held out a hand to my sister, and one to me, And I could not withdraw. Just for once, I wanted to feel what it was like to be free, Unconstrained by any law. The faery lady began the steps, her glowing hair Flowing down as her fair face Tilted back, disturbingly lovely as the moon is fair, With a too-wild-to-be-human grace. My sister took the next steps, her laughter back, Her red cloak shaking out. Innocent eyes flashed between the strands of black That enwrapped her like midnight's cloud. And I? I felt incredibly clumsy next to them; I feared stepping on their feet. But I was dancing in a green meadow, twilight's gem, And I was dancing the moon to greet, The moon when she rises, slender, a crescent still, Casting a white waterfall Over waxy, holly-green rise and resting rill, And making the fireflies blink their call. Such dances they weave in the fey lady's home, At beginning of night. I knew myself surrounded by the crash of pearl-pale foam, And bathed in filtered fay-light. And my steps became faster, then yet more swift, And we three danced a ring That would be fit to make to the world a gift Of mushrooms in the morning. Feet in the grass, hands lifted to the darkening sky, And beads of dew upon our feet, Earth and air and water linked soared by, As we soared in circles fleet, Separate one from the other, free for the first time. I saw my sister glint Past with her eyes full of the fountain's snowy climb, Of Faeryland a teasing hint. The fey lady danced still with her hands raised, Her body a feather of light, Her silver eyes filled with starlight and ablaze With secrets of faery night. And I? Halfway between the human innocence, And the wonder of Faeryland, Danced I, either a madman without any sense, Or one who would not loose the sand Of Mortality's shore to sail out upon the ocean That danced there, fair and fey. But I took a deep breath, and slowed my motion, And let the waves bear me away. The world sparkled in a thousand scintillating rainbows; The song of immortal birds Filled my ears, and in my face the scent of the rose Gusted like whspered words. Borne, crushed down into the roaring crystal, And then in silence lifted, I felt I heard mountains lift, then crash and fall, And knew myself blessed and gifted With just a little of Faeryland's wild sweet touch, To be not human again As others were, though not different by that much. But unlike other men I would see the wonder at the edges of the dawn, And from Mountains of the Moon I would hear a wandering, fiftul, bewildering song, Sung without any tune. From golden morning until the deepest depths of night, From mountains to the sea, I would strain for and catch a glimpse of Faeryland light, And know wonder vouchsafed to me. I awakened some time later, my head on my hands, And saw my sister asleep. I rolled over; but the fey lady was gone to her own lands. Part of me wanted to weep. But as I scooped up my sister to take her back down, I saw cloven hoofprints Scattered across the grass's fresh and dew-damped gown. And I saw sparkling glints Of colors I did not know in the dew, colors without names. I smiled and turned away, Wondering, if such beauty she had left me in twilight's flames, What I might see in the day. It should have been a long walk back down with my load, But instead I seemed to soar. My feet walked both the mountain and another road; My eyes saw other lore. The lighted lamps below us twinkled yellow into view, Lit up against the night. I knew that the family would be waiting for us two, Who the last echo of twilight Should have been home before. But I did not care. I turned my head up To the meadow where I had danced with a fair Lady, who gave me sup Of things that human food cannot, never will approach, Of colors at end of day, Of a wild sweet song that forever floats without reproach, Of the fair and of the fey.