The Dryad And The Woodsman

There was the shyest dryad Lived in the forest wild; A spider sewed her clothing, A wolf thought her, its child. A hawk was her hunter, An owl was her guard: She slept inside a Yew tree Whenever she grew tired. A nymph was her neighbor, A naiad bathed her clean, As she grew up strong and healthy, Hid in the forest green. She prayed to the Sun-god To bring to her a love, And he sent her a Woodsman, Her heart just to move. But he chopped down her tree To make her his bride, And the tree kept her life- While she died, half-inside. The Woodsman he wept tears To drown a forest-glen; And the whole woods went under, When the sky joined in. The heaven's convened a meeting, They must save the land; And granted him a promise, And the dryad a new plan. So she became a woman; Sometimes hard, sometimes soft: Sometimes hard, the outside- Inside, of softer cloth. She loved her a Woodsman More than her life, And wearing all green, She soon became his wife. They had many children, Who ran mostly wild- For they were half of Woodsman And half a dryad-child And there was a sign- If you looked deep in their eyes- A wildness that was in there You knew would never die.