Daisy

The clouds dissolved like cotton candy, they soon must disappear

For all they were worth the stars shone forth, when the midnight skies were clear

Though I couldn't swear I was really there, for I'd been building castles in the air

Beyond the Alps, in Ultramontane, I'd built myself a castle in Spain

Across the sea from the Spanish Main, and I was its lord and suzerain

When I came free from my reverie, in the feathery silver light

I could see the sheet of folded stationery upon the table beside my chair
Sticking out from underneath the blue glass bottle there

Harveys Bristol Cream Sherry; for me, an indulgence rare

In memory of a long ago, but unforgettable affair

I picked up the note and read what it said; "I thought you were in Spain."

And from the house she came, with my other chair, and an oath profane

As, tripping over a root, she dropped it on her foot, then sat looking at me crosswise

And all I could think was this, she looks the same; she has the most beautiful eyes
Yet, by all that I hold dear, I will not weep, I will not shed a tear

Though I still can't bring myself to speak her name; so I'll call her Daisy here

I remember those days when we met and fell in love; man, it was crazy

Walking in a meadow one day, I impulsively plucked her a daisy

And she made me buy a bottle of Bristol Cream to use as a vase

Of course, we had to make the sherry disappear without a trace

Which we did, and then, in a drunken embrace, on a drunken whim
She said, "Hey, Steve, I have an idea. Let's go for a swim."

As you may have guessed, she was the true love of my life

By all the gods and goddesses, she should have been my wife

Skinny dipping in the ocean, the ocean deep and wide
She wanted to race, and I wasn't just letting her win
She was halfway to China before I could even plunge in
Daisy, caught, and swept out to sea, in the grip of the outgoing tide

I couldn't reach her, and I couldn't save her, though I tried, dear God, I tried

Else, by all the gods and goddesses, she would have been my bride

"So, Steve, how was Spain? I want to hear all about it."

"It was a long time ago," I said, "five hundred years or so."

"Tell me about your girlfriend, Steve. Oh, I want to hear about her."

"The Lady Margarita," said I. "She looked a lot like you,
Though her hair was a little  darker
And she had the most beautiful eyes,

Though yours are a little sparklier

By passion found, by passion overcome, by passion bound, by passion undone

And there was nowhere we could go; there was nowhere to run

When her belly began to swell, and she got that glow
And her pregnancy began to show

Her father, Don Enrique, he was a Grandee
Noted as much for his piety as his ferocity

And to protect from shame his ancient noble name
He put her aboard a treasure galleon
Nuestra Senora de las Palomas

And packed her off to a convent
Faraway across the sea, in New Spain
To deliver her burden alone and in pain
And when 'twas done; to atone
She might be allowed to take her vows as a nun
Our Lady of the Doves flew west,
Never seen by human eyes again

Weighed down with the king's earthly treasure
Perhaps she sank into the sinking sun
Don Enrique had done his daughter wrong
And he was a broken man who had once been strong

He did not outlive our Lady Margarita long

I could say I hope his soul turns on a spit in hell

Except he was still her father, and Lady Margarita loved him well

So I'll leave it at that, my Daisy dear
Now tell me about yourself."
"Well, we met when we were both working for Interplanetary Airways,"
Daisy said, "I was a stew, and you were the pilot"

"Not me," said I, "I've never been anything but a poet."

"That might explain why you crashed the ship," she said.
"Go on," I said. "Now you're just making stuff up."

"Give yourself some credit, Steve.
You don't know where you'll be in twenty five-sixteen?

But you can learn a few things in five hundred years."
"True enough," I said, "but I wouldn't crash the ship

I'd crash the gates of hyperspace
And we'd be here, there, and everywhere

Popping up all over the places where UFOs are seen

"Ah, Steve," she sighed, "you know me all too well.
It was my idea, so don't take it too much to heart
We were lost in twenty five-seventeen
When the experimental hyperspace drive blew us apart."

She said, "Oh, Steve, I don't know where to start

I'm from the future and you're from the past
Such an affair could surely never last
But here we sit in the present, together

Of course, to me you are an eidolon
And to you, I'm but a wraith
 But for at least a thousand years we've been together

Over and over, in one way or another

Life keeps ripping us apart, then throwing us back together

Yet, here we sit, and talk, like we see each other everyday

And, granted we sometimes mess up our tenses

And trip over a few strange sentences

But it seems we're stuck with each other

We're meant to be together, forever

So are you going to open that bottle of Bristol Cream, or what?

Though I'm sure we'll have to swig it straight from the bottle

I know better than to ask if you have any decent stemware."
"Or," said she, as ever, so very sweetly
"I suppose we could sip it out of mason jars."

And the best I could think of to say in reply

Was this, 'Thus saith the wraith."