The Dance Of The Leaftaking Poem by David Lewis Paget

She always seemed to run on ahead,
Skipping, prancing and dancing,
All the way to the Goblin's Wood
While I followed on, romancing.
She never seemed to see me at all
Though she was my only vision,
The only feature that filled my world
Right through to the intermission.

She wore her hair in a plaited braid
That jiggled along behind her,
And left a trail like a dragon's tail
So bright that the light would blind her,
But I was mesmerised by the legs
That danced in a crazy pattern,
They moved too fast for the man who begs
Or the girl that they call a slattern.

I'd see her shadow between the trees
As it weaved and it side-slipped gladly,
Whipping the pale white flight of the breeze
As the leaves whirled around her, madly,
Then all the denizens of the wood
Would come to the sight entrancing,
Dressed in the garb of the neighborhood
I'd leave them behind me, dancing.

‘Come out, come out, ' would the Goblins shout
But she'd leave them behind her, whirling,
The old ones suffered from reams of gout
And would sit with their hair there, curling,
I live in hopes that she'll turn to me
When her dance has become more mellow,
Entwined around the mystery tree
Her dress fading green to yellow.

They call her Summer, but Autumn shades
Seem they're a long time coming,
The leaves are skittering down like blades
In a part of the year that's slumming,
The breeze is cool as I call her in
From the dance that she's in the making,
While I, contented, await the sin
She keeps in the oven, baking.

30 January 2016