Rider In The Shadow

The tossing of the leaves,
And the sparkling of the wind,
Convinced me she whom my heart grieves
Stood where the dancing feet had dinned.

It had been a long celebration,
And I had wandered far away.
It was not in me to feel much of elation,
Ever since I lost her, a year ago today.

I saw in the tossing shadows
And the sparkling of the shade
A horse as dark as the Night Queen who goes
Down to her home in the west where night is remade.

She sat on the horse's back,
Staring at me with eyes as green
As the tossing leaves, with her hair that shade of black
I remembered so well, that dark and lovely sheen.

I heard, in the tossing shade,
In the sparkling of the wind,
Her voice as soft as the grass which is laid
In spring to replace that which winter has thinned.

Her words were so simple, so-
Two words all she had to say.
She looked at me with her green eyes from shadow,
And said, in that charming child's lisp, "Come away."

Then, in the tossing of the leaves,
And in the sparkling shadows,
I saw the lady whom my heart still hopelessly grieves
Turn her horse's head to where the west wind blows.

I took only one look back,
And then I walked away unseen,
To follow that hair of dark and blowing black,
To follow those eyes of sparkling and shaded green.