The pool
by cricketjeff on December 20, 2007. © Jeff Green, All rights reserved
There’s a pool of inky blackness where the water’s cold and still
The trees that cluster round it scatter gloom and evil will
No birds sing in their branches, and no frogs croak on the bank
The sunlight never shines there, and the air is cold and dank
Yet every year in winter, a young lady comes to gaze
On the inky pool of blackness on the blackest of all days
Staring deep into the waters for the sight she will not see
For the lady by the water, hopes to catch a glimpse of me
Long years ago she ordered “fetch me water from the pool
Which in the height of summer is still dark and black and cool”
Where time itself can’t change things, for the power is too strong;
But the pool protects its secrets and to take the water’s wrong.
The lady was so beautiful, and I a lovestruck fool
Gladly rushed to do her bidding “Brought her water from the pool”
I watched her drink the water, from the very few first drips
I knew my life was over, as the magic touched her lips.
Now time itself can’t change her, for the power is too strong
I lie trapped within the waters, till she undoes all her wrong
Her life is everlasting, and her beauty will not fade
But I must pay for stealing from the magic of this glade
She knows that I am in here, and she knows my life is done
So she lives a life of beauty, without any joy or fun
The curse will not be broken, save on the blackest winter day
She must plunge into the water, so together we can stay
Author notes
Sue Cardwell has written a sequel to this poem, I am pretty sure a sequel
written by me would have ended up very differently, she sees my two characters
very differently. I’d love to know how others see them.
English