Lammas Night
All waning moon conceals her face
Behind a scuttling wind torn cloud
She wraps herself in its embrace
As in a tattered cloak
The wind is waiting in the trees
The lens are warped and bent and bared
I stand within my circle now
To deal with what I hold
Wonderer of wizard kind
I was until a month ago
The headman of this village came
And begged that I should stay
"For since our wizard died," he said
And why he dies we do not know
We have no one to weave our spells
And keep the dark at bay
His house and books are yours my lady
If you choose but to remain
His offer was too tempting
To be lightly set aside
I'd wearied of my travel
Being plaything of the sun and rain
This was the chance I hoped for
And I said that I would bide
Perhaps if I had been a man
And not a maid perhaps if I
Had been less lonely less alone
Or less of magic for
Whatever weakness was in me
Or for whatever reason why
Something slept within that house
That my own presence woke
A half seen shadow courted me
Stood close at hand by my side
It left a lover's token
One fresh blossom on my plate
I woke to danger, knew the young
Magician still to earth was tied
And tied to me and I must act
Or I might share his fate
I found a spell for banishment
The page then turned but not by me
The next spell differed by one word
Of few strokes of a pen
The first one I had seen before
The spell to set a spirit free
The second let the mage born dead
Take flesh and live again
Now both these spells were equal
In risk to body and to soul
And both these spells demanded
They be cast on Lammas Night
And both these spells of spirit
And of caster took an equal toll
But nowhere is it written
That I the spell is of the light
Can it be wise to risk the anger
Of the Gods in such a task?
Yet who am I to judge of who
Should live and who should die
Does love or duty call to him
Is his kindness to me all a mask
And could I trust his answer
Of I dared to ask him why
So now I stand within the circles
I have drawn upon the floor
I have no further answer
If this spirit's friend or foe
To God's sign has been granted me
Though I have prayed for often
Nor can this moment answer if
I'll tell him come or go
