Away she steals beneath the midnight sky,
An eager gleam shining in her green eyes,
And escapes the memories left behind;
The night air soothes her face and clears her mind.
On the rocking waves slumber fishing boats,
Twinkling twins of lanterns on the water float;
The wandering ripples of some distant land
Meet with her feet upon the sea-dark sand.
To the wild calls of seabirds, the dawn breaks;
With cheerful morning shouts, the village wakes.
Boats leave the harbor dock and nets are cast;
On the horizon grows a towering mast.
She stands upon the pier where gather men
To watch the merchant ship come in;
Its sails spread wide, its fat hull filled with goods
To sell to the townspeople of the woods.
She inquires, in an anxious manner,
If the captain could spare a berth for her.
He nods, and with a beckoning motion,
Agrees to take her across the ocean.
A newfound freedom rises in her heart
As the great swells of grey-green water part,
And wash away beneath the prow,
Splashing the salty spray up to the bow.
Heavy sails grow light with the breath of wind;
To trim the rippling canvas, men ascend.
The girl’s dark hair whips around her pink cheeks,
As the sun falls into the ocean’s deeps.
Onward into the east, the trade ship goes,
And eager traveler on current’s flow;
Her white sails embrace the air, moving,
Following the fleet-feathered seagull’s wing.
When at last the sailing ship’s voyage ends,
And her anchor makes home in safe harbor,
The dark-haired girl steps from the deck to dock,
Where merchants, sailors, and city people flock.
A market square’s unfamiliar bustle
Pulses through the crowd with noise and hustle;
Bold elbows, loud voices, and bright colors
Swirl in a dizzying dance around her.
With a tight-clenched hand guarding her silver,
Precious coins, she joins the human river,
And cautiously makes her way up the street
To find provisions and something to eat.
A quiet inn stands far out of the way,
The cost for peace and food a small price to pay,
To escape the deafening roar elsewhere,
And with only two cats the warm hearth share.
When the city’s morning too early comes,
Raucous commotion startles her from
Her restless sleep, and now she must move on
And leave the city to its lively romp.
Southward stretches a desert’s sandy paws;
East a barren scrubland of dry thorns yawns;
To the west, from whence she came, lies the sea;
But to the north is where the mountains sleep.
Curious forests this newcomer greet;
The trees bend their leafy boughs in welcome,
But the jealous roots try to trip her feet.
Keeping to the narrow track, she goes on.
The path leads her steps between trunks of grey,
Under whose arching branches sunlight sways;
Leaves of silver, green, and gold flutter down,
Dropping like jewels from the forest’s crown.
Hours later, the final copper ray
Falls away from the tree-ridged, dusky sky,
Its fading shaft bidding the waning day,
With silent light, a soft and sad goodbye.
Twilight finds the lone girl still marching on,
Fearless of the darkness and eerie sounds.
She trusts in the moon when the fog-clouds lift,
And the woodland where bright fairy dusts drift.
