I Sit and Sew

I sit and sew, and look upon the woods
Where in some verdant glade I once did play,
Yet now the time for youthful sport is gone,
I sit and sew; I know I must not stray.

I am alone, my seven brothers fled
My father under thrall of some black art.
My mother died before this woman came,
This woman with her smiles and blackened heart.
She weaves her spells as spiders weave a net,
Her flashing eyes as blue as mine are green:
My brothers swear she is some faerie’s get,
Her hair more red than any I have seen.
She laughing, calls me temptress, little witch,
For speaking to my father of these fears.
He laughs with her, and sends me off to sew,
Whilst running towards the huntsman like a deer.
I sit and sew, those swans that swim our lake
More near to me than other birds that fly.
I see them looking up, those seven swans,
Yet now they gaze at me, I know not why.

I sit and sew, and look upon the woods,
Where in some verdant glade I once did play,
Yet now the time has come for me to fly,
I sit and sew; I know I must away.