Shalott Reprise

(putting words in the mouth of Tennyson's Lady of Shalott)

I lived too much in shadows, the warp and weft of time

I have watched through the castle mirror, and hid my heart in rhyme,

I have walked in other’s rhythms, and never seen the crime.

I have yearned another kingdom but never bowed my head

To shoulder life’s deep burden and speak life to the dead

And I embroidered daisies, when the hungry should be fed.

I have yearned another country but have not blessed my own,

And the years went to the locusts, and my heart went to a stone

But sometimes it grows weary to always be alone.

I have hungered other mornings, be-mirrored in my dreams,

Have clenched with silent violence and schemed a thousand schemes

But never crossed the threshold, or left what only seems.

But now I have beheld him, Beloved of my soul!

The least of all his beauties betrays I am not whole.

One glance, one fatal moment, and all my peace he stole.

And I? I will have done now with vague dreams of desire.

My breath is changed to dust now, my veins scream out with fire.

Twixt one death and another, to life I will aspire!