From Love to Grief

The desert sun had not been kind,
But to his goal he'd strive.
No heat would stop determined hands,
No sleep till he'd arrive.

Refrain
Come one, come all to hear the tale,
It shall not take me long.
With ale to wet my throat I sing,
Don't let me tell it wrong.

A mountain trail within his trek
Risked life and limb and soul.
Climbed to the top and down again.
He had to make it whole.

A raging river he did forge
To make his test complete.
And now to meet the goal he sought
A maiden he would meet.

In her was held his only love,
From feet to lovely eyes.
But whilst he walked upon the land
A hatred did arise.

His maiden heard a lie of death.
The vial within her gown
Was poison kept away from all.
She prayed and drank it down.

And now her love arrives to see
The maid before his eye.
And in her death a wish he makes
That now he too could die.

Alone, he bears her to her grave.
With one last anguished sigh,
An anger drains and love appears.
He bids his last good-bye.

The tears that once like rapids flowed
Now trickle down his face.
The flower brings a memory,
One of her quiet grace.

Now anger, sorrow vie control.
O never will he see
Another love within his life,
Not like the one in she.


Peter Henry October 3, 1995