The faeries stole my child away
For a twelvemonth and a day,
In exchange for seven golden bands
That turned to daisy chains in my hands.
He was restored to me, aged by a decade;
With blue tinged skin, thin as a knife blade.
He could not speak two human words,
But conversed at length with mice and birds.
He spat at weddings, laughed at death
And suffered pain with every breath
Of mortal air his lungs inhaled.
He never slept, but only wailed
Beneath the moon's tormenting light:
An eldritch song all through the night
That shattered dreams and curdled cream,
While his eyes shone with an argent gleam.
By day, he wandered far afield
In search of the gateway, long concealed,
Through which he might reach the domain
Of the faerie folk and find surcease from pain,
But all magic was gone from the earth
And he was banished to his place of birth.
I rue the bargain made that day
The faeries stole my child away.
