The Love of Tamlin

There, within the castle-keep Where fiery embers sleep Comes the fairy wilds now calling thee Where yea shall sleep no more He rides on the white steed In armor bright and clean Mighty is the man among the knights Enchanted Tamlin They will turn him in the night Into a fig or frog, into a tree or stone Where he will be no more Rocks gathered at the shore Hold back the oceans green There, where men were born Warriors keep out the war The peace is broken wide As evil things will creep Into the minds of men With no one left alive No man in all the land Shall have the hand of Marion Though she be plump with child The king commands her style In the middle of the night The fairy queen will come With potions conjured up From days of old She will turn the earthly man Into a lion bold Into a naked knight Then toss him to the cold Pierced through the heart was he Left in the dark to die The love of Marion will cry As he will be no more Death rides with the white steed Farthest from the town Where in the glen he fell More lost than found Author's Note: I wrote this poem in honor of Fairport Convention, Sandy Denny, creators of Liege and Leif and the song Tamlin