Changeling

[marycatelli]

I am out on the wind
In the wild, black night;
On the wings of the owl
I take my flight,
On the ghostly wings of the great white owl;
And whether the night be fair or foul,
Or the moon be up or the thunder growl,
Happy I be,
Happy I be
When the changeling blood runs green in me!

When meek folk sleep
In their dull, soft beds,
I creep over roots
That the weasel treads,
Where the squat green lamps of the toadstools glow -
And only the fox knows the ways I go,
And nobody knows the things I know ....
Wise I be,
Wise I be
When the changeling blood runs green in me!

O Mother, slumber
And do not wake! ...
Thin voices called
From the rain-wet brake,
And the child you cradled against your breast
Is out in the night on the black wind's crest,
For only the wild can give me rest ....
Sad I be,
Sad I be
When the changeling blood runs green in me.

Leah Bodine Drake