HAUNTED - Golden Chains
By Sarah Das Gupta
Into the forest the maiden walked,
two elegant greyhounds on silken leash.
The summer leaves were emerald green,
her face as fair as a blushing rose.
Deeper she walked where fairies dwell,
where woodpeckers tap their secret code.
Above the crystal water of the stream,
dragonflies hover in the still, silent air.
In the heart of the green wood, she hears
the whirring sound of a spinning wheel.
Into the shadow of a cool, hidden glade
my lady walks on silvern shoe.
There at the wheel, a princess sits,
spinning fine threads of purest gold.
Her face is like the fairest bloom
that flowers in summer groves.
As the maiden looks, the enchantment fades.
The spinner’s face is now an old crone’s,
with toothless smile and ravaged skin.
The golden skein is now golden chains
rattling like prisoners in deepest dungeons.
The greyhounds, black cats with amber eyes,
yowl at the hideous old crone’s feet.
In the invading darkness they burn and glow.
The old witch with bony finger beckons,
the Maid’s feet move of their own volition.
At the wheel she sits, fine golden thread spins.
The trees are dark and bare in the cold east wind,
snow falls softly on grass, beech and birch.
The Maid is aging, as in a nightmare!
For her Love she begins to passionately yearn
But the Fates determine, she’ll never return.
Sarah Das Gupta is an 81 year young retired teacher from near Cambridge, UK who also taught in India and Tanzania. She started writing last October while bored by a long stay in hospital,following an accident. Her work has been published in 12 countries including- US, UK, Canada, Australia, India, Germany, Croatia and Romania. Writing has given her the drive and inspiration to learn to walk again.
