In the Willows

In the willows, damp and dreary
the autumn sky made me leery
spoke a sprite amongst the rushes
"Who goes there beside the thrushes?"

I said "It is but I here, amongst the thrushes."
"Who goes there, inside the rushes?

"Will you flinch, my soul to be?"
The voice wandered through the branches.
"Did I pledge, my soul to thee?"
My voice answered twain the patches.

A furtive motion was the only answer
Staying hither, I sensed disaster.
Courting chance, I ventured further.
"Could yon sprite be thinking murder?"

"No, not I" The lonesome reply
wafting through the autumn sky
"Then peaceful come for me to see,"
"If only me you will not flee."

Thoughtful I for a moment
"Then swiftly now so I may gaze."
Speechless mouthing my lament
To see my lover's graceful face

Three years hence I stand and stare
At the willows, when they're bare.
Thinking of that chance meeting
And our lives, ever fleeting.