Lady of the Lake

He was young and he rode along the river

Raven-haired

The fairest thing to grace those steady banks

In ages come and lost forever

And power laid upon him

Like a thousand secrets she would never know

And so she spoke

In the lapping of the land

Golden-tongued

Her whispers fickle jewels along the sand

Ephemeral and softly spoken

But he was wiser than his years

And shed his hooves to meet her there

Among the reeds where earth recedes

There he stood.

As the silt caressed the bottoms of his feet

Circles formed: growing outward, drawing inward

Gaining strength and going homeward

In the trumpeting of swans

In lilies laced upon a pond

She rose before him like the ice before a Spring

And was a queen

And their touch was like a lover's

Clear and sweet, drenching and unfolding

With no need for air or sunlight in the deep

And in the passions that they bared

In pledges won and secrets shared

They'd stand together in what destiny would bring

And crown a king.