by Marc Gunn, October 15, 2004

I've been dreaming of elves of recent. They inspired this poem of elves and forests among the hills.

I saw a nymph on a hillside
Standing in a field of red poppy.
Her fair skin glowed bright in the sunlight.
She turned, and I caught her eye.

She gazed for a moment.
It felt like a lifetime.
I thirsted for those soft, ruby lips
And the skilken touch of her dark brown hair.
I saw our children climbing a great oak.
I could feel my heart sink to my feet.
It was over.
I was caught in her spell.

No sooner was I ensnared,
Than she disappeared into the woods.
I ran after her.
Soft light flowed through the trees.
A yellow dog stood beside the oak in my precognition,
But no nymph was there.
The young dog gaszed at me as if to say,
“Why do you chase a dream?”

I had no answer to give.

Perhaps it's an emotional weakness of mine
To forever chase the Grail,
To never find my desires.
You always want what you can't have.

Or perhaps the lifetime we lived together
Awakened a desire to see if that dream
Could become a reality.

I lay back down to sleep,
That my dreams could continue the Quest.