Alana Dulcita
Once in a forest, a long time ago,
there dwelt a young maiden, bright, sweet and fair.
Flowers she wore in her long wavy hair,
and each day she’d vanish into gloaming’s glow.
Alana Dulcita was this young maid’s name,
a name that fell sweetly from everyone’s tongue.
The townspeople loved her -both old and young,
yet nobody knew from where the girl came.
They only knew that, at the end of each day,
with sun dipping downward into the west
and sky splashed with colors Alana liked best,
was when, as if magically, she’d slip away!
“Where does she go?” all the villagers asked,
“And how does she leave us so quietly
that not even one of us ever can see?
Has some kind of spell on our dear girl been cast?”
Spell or no spell, the young maid had powers
as into the woodland she fled and then donned
a gossamer gown, hidden well near a pond
surrounded by beautiful flowers.
She peered into water after she’d kneel
as a lovely face gazed back at her.
In this perfect moment, what should occur
but, like magic, the girl became real!
Her filmy silk gown would blend with her skin,
shrinking into a stem, and her face
changed into petals till soon not a trace
remained of the form that a human lives in.
Alana Dulcita, her real self again,
breathing lilacs’ and lilies’ sweet scent,
would bow her fair face, a flower content,
to repose by the pond with her kin.
Awaking at dawn, renewed, she’d return
to the town where they loved her so well,
keeping the secret she never could tell
of youth’s beauty for which humans yearn.
She’d never grow old as long as she had
a place of seclusion where she might go
to water around which bright flowers could grow,
for this is what kept the soul of hers glad!
Never to marry and never to stay
too long in one place, she’d always move on.
Beloved she would be till the day she was gone.
This, for Alana, was the only way.
Alana Dulcita, where did she go
when forests grew small and lake beds grew dry?
Did the fair maid eventually die
or is she still sleeping where bright blossoms grow?
Note: The name Alana means "the bright fair one" in Gaelic
or "precious; awakening" in Hawaiian & "Beautiful dear child"
in Irish/ the name Dulcita is Latin for "sweet."
Written by Andrea Dietrich & Inspired by the "Reflections" Contest
Sponsored by Constance La France ~A Rambling Poet~
Copyright © Andrea Dietrich | Year Posted 2011
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