The Song of Elysia Fionn

T'was a land where the mists lay like blankets of wool
At the feet of cold mountains of stone
T'was a land where the summer rain courted the sun
T'was the home of Elysia Fionn

Born to a woman with hair of spun gold
Born to a black-haired man,
Elysia Fionn knew the sea as her kin,
The Tuatha de Bhriain her clann

At the ocean's extreme she called to the horses
That waved their wild manes in the wind
And though they were naught but salt water and foam
She communed with them time and again

At dusk she would wander the darkening wood
Gleaning the secrets of trees
When the sun showed his face, she laid down her head
And in dreams found her solace and ease

On waking, her fingers found myriad ways
To spell out the magicks she learned
The strings of the harp sang her mystical songs
Her needle and thread flashed and turned

Pentacle, circle, new moon and full,
Knotwork, spiral and triskele
All bloomed together on fine linen snow
In colors of blood, gold and thistle

Her hands were not smooth, nor pampered nor fine
They knew well the work of the field
The axe and the hammer, the sickle and plow
These she used to bring earth's fruitful yield

Her sisters were proper, did as they were told
And stayed home to cook, wash and spin
But Elysia went hunting and fishing instead
Naught that any could say kept her in

When no one was watching, she bound her long hair
Wrapped her womanly curves flat and tight
Then she rode with the warriors thru stream and o'er field
And learned the fine art of the fight

Then, weary and bruised with the day's long toil,
Full streaked with her own red blood
She rode to the sea and stripped bare as a babe
And plunged herself into the flood.

The salt stung her wounds but she laughed at the pain
Her voice charmed the silky black seals
With bottomless eyes they watched from afar
As the sea her white body did heal

Men they did court her and tried her to tame
She kindly but firmly resisted
She loved them and left them alone once again
The more quickly the more they insisted

Her family despaired that she ever would wed
Said she'd end up a crone or a beggar
But up her long sleeves she'd a secret to keep:
Her one true love, Dairchan MacGregor

Dairchan, the friend of her childhood days,
Adventures and games with her shared
And as they grew older, so grew their deep bond
And a love with which nothing compared

One night, when the moon kissed a looking-glass sea
He'd set off to seek his own fate
But first he had held her and vowed to return
And in turn she had promised to wait

As time crawled by like the growing of moss
In a shady, damp crevice of stone,
Elysia was seen less and less in the town
More and more she went wand'ring alone

'Til one day, when she woke in the dark before dawn
And threw a wool wrap 'round her shoulders
Her footsteps went silently where they were drawn -
To the sea, 'mid the beetling boulders

She sat on a great stone, and while the mist cleared
She sang a song into the gale
The sun touched her face and she lifted her eyes
To the black silhouette of a sail

She stood like a statue at water's rough edge
As the vessel made way to the shore
Soon the shouts of the sailors cut through the salt air
As they dropped sail and lifted their oars

His hair whipped like flags 'round his laughing brown eyes
A beard hid the cleft in his chin
He stood on the bow and kept watch on the shore
When he saw her, he started to grin

And, smiling, they stood on the day they were wed
Surrounded by family and friends
Elysia Fionn and her Dairchan MacGregor
Began life where this story ends.