Swan-Child Poem by Margaret Widdemer

(For Aline)

MY feet have touched the Dancing Water,
My lips have kissed the Singing Rose
And I was born a swan-girl's daughter . . .
Oh, I would stay with you, my lover,
But in my heart a sea wind blows
And in the dark the wild swans hover . . .

Tonight as I went down to sea
To cast my net, to draw my net,
The Marsh-King's daughter whispered me,
'Sister,' she called, 'do you forget?'
For though I am a fisher's child
It was a swan-maid mothered me,
And I have wings that I can don
When day is done, when dark comes on,
To bear me high across the sea.

One star-dusk when I waited you
And it was long before you came,
There was a bird with wings of blue
And claws of gold and crest of flame
Who sang with words as mortals do:
He sang me of an ivory fountain
Within a wood beyond a mountain

Where lies beneath the water's flow
A golden key, a silver cup,
Until my hand shall lift them up . . .
(Oh, I must go from you, my lover!)
For they were mine once long ago.

How shall you keep me, dear my lover?
My heart is yours till night-winds call,
And then dear earth-things fade and fall
(Oh, I was born a swan-girl's daughter!)
For I have found beneath the moon
Brown fairy fernseed for my shoon
That carries me where no man knows,
Beyond the sands, beyond the clover . . .
I cannot bide with you, my lover . . .
My feet have touched the Dancing Water,
My lips have kissed the Singing Rose.