Ann Keith
Swan-maidens
Last evening at sunset I saw through the trees,
In a place where at noonday no water had been,
A pool ringed with reeds, and there swans came to feed -
Strange swans indeed and seen seldom of men -
That changed as I gazed and they laid down their plumes,
And I saw three white maidens that bathed in the pool.
Swan-maids were these that there men have seen seldom.
And had you stayed on there you might have beheld them
Take up the white plumage they laid on the shore
And mount to their kingdom in swan-shape once more.
Had you seized on their plumage you might have compelled them
To bring you too with them where swan-maidens fly,
Unscathed to transport you and safe to restore you,
And laden with gifts from the place where they bore you,
Their cloud-enclosed palace that hangs in the sky,
Suspended by four chains of gold -
There are those that have been there before you.
Page(s) 23
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