Separate, encased in a crystal tower;
Winds lifted her above His reach
For another hour.

She could not escape from her jail,
And did lie in wait for her Knight-
Hearty and hale.

But no white flanks shone along the horizon
No shield, nor banner
No silvered visor.

Yet the Lady lingered, the breeze her breath,
For a savior to rescue her
From her distress.

Since even the zephyrs
Could not loose
The knowledge of her fatal noose.

An invisible thread
Unending and strong
Coiled within: so terribly long.

The Lady’s skin glowed, candlelit pale;
See the delicate tracery,
Blue beneath the veil?

At times the currents would shift their wend
Her lips would move
Anticipating the end.

But the wind would keep blowing
The Lady would gasp,
Her body still free of the Ferryman’s grasp.

And so it went
For several hours more
Until night fell upon her cold marble floor.

In the descending gloom
Her eyes glimpsed a shape
Traveling as a man would, with confident gait.

O’er rock and tree swept a shadow
Past waters turgid
Fields spent and fallow.

A smile a-lighted upon her face
Unexpected and faint,
Yet full of grace.

Here was the comfort she had sought! -
He would show her worry
Was all for naught.

Tis true
She is the damsel of this tale
But even heroes must sometimes fail.

Once the man-shade reached her side
She spied his collar
And simply cried.

The Lady did not wish to concede her fight
Death should not win
Before dawn’s light.

But her body knew
It could not stay
Alive in this world another day.

It thanked the Lady
For oh-so-many years
Of laughter, comfort, happiness, and tears.

She felt the thread tighten
Cross her laboring heart
Realized she had played a glorious part.

Upon wingèd words
Holy and sure
Death approached ready to carry her.

And when the priest’s hand
Enclosed her own
She curled her fingers round ancient bone.

The Lady did not shy away from Him;
The wind died
And with it, her will to live.