They dwell stealthfully, in some hidden place,
Did they come hither, to cleave me apart?
O Wotan, as thou hanged upon the tree,
Were they sent thither, to beguile my heart?
Unknowingly I, may them encounter,
By day in woods and in rolling meadows.
For nor in nothing, nor in things will they,
Dwell by night upon, high hills soft shadows.
And often they come, to my settlement,
That in a mossy bed, they may thee quell.
By my troth those wights, affect me oft,
But yet methinks, I am under their spell.
Perhaps on some shadowy, ghostly path,
Play a great company, of women wild.
Heathen spirits, eluene dance and play,
I pray thee, let me not, be so beguiled.
Or hath fairies led me, into the wood,
Or along some lonesome brook and stream.
Why then methinks, I am ready to wake,
Could they entreat me still, when I doth dream?
Or sometimes when, the mist is hanging thin,
At twilight where things, are not what they seem.
Or when a falsehood, in my eye be seen,
When no man or beast, can hear me scream.
Copyright Andrew Rea Yuletide 2020
Based on a 13C Worcester/Gloucester passage about elves.
Eluene is a cognate for elves
