Copyright © 2009 by William R. Mistele

Double Changeling

The tale is told

How fairies from the Other Side

A child exchange, a trade is made

But I speak with ease

Of greater mysteries than these:

She addressed the undine queens

With words never before heard

Was not her love of water the same as theirs?

The lakes, the rivers, the streams, the seas—

One taste, one embrace?

Was not her love everywhere in every moment

Their own reflection, their own perfection?

Did she not know how to let go and flow:

There is no past or future

No wisdom or destiny

The sea shall encompass each with ecstasy.

Council was taken, all problems debated,

A decision rendered:

If she would step aside from mankind

All privileges and gifts of the undines

Would be granted

For as long as she wished to remain

Until that day the divine

Sets before her another way

And so for a thousand years

In a group of three she did play

Among the waves, as pure delight,

A song unlike any other

The sea did sing and dream at night

But now she returns

The divine intervenes

For what purpose am I called?

My peace disturbed?

What service am I to render to mankind

That the realms of bliss I must leave behind?

Child, human child, turn away

From the sea so wild, so free, so filled with beauty

Walk again among mankind

Think not that humans

Are selfish and greedy

Vulnerable and needy

Blind to the beauty that shines

In the sky, the earth, the trees, the seas,

Rather, imagine what they shall be

Once freed of all need

If they were but to taste the love you feel

They would be healed

As once before you did implore another realm to open its door

Persuade mankind with your receptive grace

Every moment boundless love does embrace

Return again Oh human child

From the sacred and the wild

Walk again among humanity

For what purpose do you ask?

Fulfill this task:

Set them free.