LUCY ON THE DANCING GREEN

I watched my little girl today, a-dancing on the green,
I looked into her grey-blue eyes to see where she had been.
To see what made her pirouette beneath the old beech tree,
What hidden music she could hear where none was heard by me.
 
The wind was low, no sound there was, save the rustle of the tree,
And there was no-one hiding near as far as I could see.
I did not want to ask her and so break the magic spell,
I had not got the heart to stop her while she danced so well.
 
She leapt, she twisted, glided, twirled, she moved so easily,
Her print dress swishing through the grass and swirling gracefully.
I feared she’d heard those endless pipes which play from dusk to dawn,
The endless fluting of the reeds to which men’s hearts are drawn.
 
The sound which led the children from out of Hamelin town,
The rushing music of the pipes which caused the rats to drown.
Pan’s pipes was what I feared and I was fixed, still, like a fawn,
That was the Piper who I feared was playing on the lawn.
 
And then my courage caught me; I knew I could not stand,
And watch my little girl so gay be taken from the land.
So out I stepped onto the green, and smiling called her name,
And so we danced together, yet all was not the same…
 
Her eyes had lost that eldritch look, she danced quite naturally,
We danced together, danced a jig for all humanity.
We danced away my silly fears, we whirled away my fright,
We simply danced for youth and health, a dance of love and light.
 
Come look into our eyes today, and see where we have been,
My little girl and I have been a-dancing on the green!