“So you do believe in... true love?” she whispered.
I took a deep breath, “I think I have to,” I said, blinking back tears. “Without it, we're all going nowhere.”
Juliet Marillier, Wildwood Dancing

She walks with care
Over grounds wreathed
In mists
While far above her and
The surrounding forest
The stars and moon
Play amongst clouds that glow
With celestial light.
She listens carefully
For stealthy steps,
For warnings
Of being followed,
Even as she searches
For him.
“Look for a certain glade,”
The dream had told her,
So real there was no denying
It's meaning,
And she follows its bidding
Through the pregnant night
Placing her faith
In him.
In time she comes upon
The glade,
Lit only by starlight
And moonglow,
But where is he,
The one who haunts her heart
And soul?
Was he, after all,
A mere figment of her longings?
Then the glow begins
To gently brighten,
And stars to twinkle
Upon the air,
And the mists take the form
Of a white, winged horse
With golden hooves
And piercing blue eyes
That find her waiting
Nervously,
Hopefully,
In the shadows.
“Come with me,”
The steed commands,
The words whispered
Through her mind,
And she knows,
Somehow, she knows,
That this is him,
The One of her dreams;
And so to him she goes,
Finds her place
Upon his back
With her thighs tight
Behind his wings,
And marvels as
He takes to the sky,
Swiftly lifting her,
Surrounded by
His twinkling stars,
Until he brings her
To a palace
Glistening with moonlight.
There he alights and kneels,
Allowing her to gracefully slip
To a plush and flowered lawn,
Before rising again
To face her,
His bearing regal
And magestic.
Then blue eyes once piercing
Grow soft in regard
As his form begins to shift
Into the shape of a man,
A prince dressed in white
With a gold circlet
Upon his brow,
Becoming the One
In her lifetime
Of dreams.
He smiles at her
As he takes her hands
With a gentle touch
And tells her,
“I've brought you here
To my celestial home
To make you,
At long last,
The bride of my heart.
Will you stay
And rule with me
For all eternity?”
She considers for a moment
All she would leave behind,
Her heart unnourished
By a drudged life filled
With lonely days,
And she knows again,
He is her One
And she is his,
Meant to be together
For always.
She smiles as she
Steps into his arms
And lifts her face
For his kiss,
Afterward assuring him
“I am your One
And you are mine,
Yes I will stay
And rule at your side
So long as love exists
Between us.”
Holding her close
He breathes in her scent,
Closes his azure eyes,
And promises her
With husky voice,
Forever.

c.2022