A Stair Made Of Stone Poem by zmz gbzn

to the head of a stair made of stone she strayed / in the heat of a midsummer's day / and there in cool shadow of bramble and lintel / took refuge from sun's burning ray. / her eyes are as dark and as warm as pitch / they accustom themselves to the dim / and as they do so, so too do they fall / on the faint hint of light far below. / cautiously, fingers outstretched, she descends / under the small drumlin green / toes on damp, mossy, uneven slate / where no mortal foot-fall has been. / heavy now the muddy hems of her skirts / the stair steepens and plunges her in / a brackish mere, rising up with pale, ghostly light / drenching her through, to the skin. / somewhere, perhaps in an unwritten tale / a limp body washed up on the sands / a young boy out picking cranberries / espies her there out on the strand / and calls out to his ancient grandfather / 'Poppa, look there, who's she? ' / 'Where, what? You're imagining, / but my dear boy, that's alright with me.'