VIOLET

A long time ago in the days of yore,
as Spring her many-hued splendour wore,
a lone woodsman in a leaf-ed glade sat,
when hark! He heard a resounding splat! 

He turned around and who should he see?
A little fey girl no high'r than his knee!
“Oh, wee one! What d'you do here alone?
Yer hair's all awry, yer chilled to the bone!”

“Alone I'm not, I'm the child of the glade;
my mother she be, for a father I prayed.
'Tis you who now must take me home,
'tis lonely I get here, late, in the gloam.”

"Besides, mother bids me live ‘mong men,
learn your ways of laughter, love and pen.
Her ambrosial gifts shall I bring by and by,
Her wisdom and counsel for you apply."

As years went by, into a beauty she grew;
ev’ry tree and bird her healing song knew.
One touch of her hand would mend ev’ry pain,
"Bless you, heal you", her constant refrain.

In her robe milky white, dark locks in braids,
her radiant smile, envy of all the maids,
crowned in white daisies and purple heather,
armfuls of blossoms and herbs she'd gather.

Potions, infusions, she'd brew all night,
give thanks to the sun at morning light.
Her elixirs the ailing to health restored,
her heart with others' in perfect accord.

On nights when the moon was full and bright,
in the glade she’d dance, a swaying sprite,
all around her a fulgent purple haze;
in wonder would the wood elves gaze.

And so she acquired her blessed name,
Violet, part faerie-child, part mortal dame;
Friend to all that lived and breathed;
Guardian, who others’ sufferings eased.

One Spring, as snowdrops began to bloom,
filling the woods with their sweet perfume,
she heard the glade's mellifluous call;
Mother's sweet voice her heart enthralled.

Jubilant she floated, deep in a trance,
to the sacred glade where faeries dance,
where oft on maternal bosom she’d lain,
and thereafter never was seen again.

Legends tell one of an evergreen tree,
its violaceous flowers all year you’d see,
where tormented hearts their sorrows laid,
there, in the glorious, rapturous Glade.

© 2014 Lily's Verse
Lilium Candidum

Image: A Nymph in the Forest

source: blog.naver.com
Artist: Charles Amable Lenoir