Fair Trade

(In the Realm of Gloriana, VII)

She has gone now, with her minions,
Queen of Faery, Gloriana -
Passed before us, bid us follow
In her never-ending progress --
And a part of each of us
Within her train goes willingly.

We have come to faery market
In the realm of Gloriana,
Come to trade or come to barter,
Come to fill an empty larder,
Come as guests unto the revels of the Queen;
We have feasted at the table she has set

Here in the green wood;
We have mingled with the spirits of the earth.
We have risen from our drowsing
And have wakened to communion
With our kindred,
Found a mystery of rebirth.

In our veins a magic courses that is with us now forever;
In the mundane daily doings of the grey world of unknowing
We are fed upon our vision,
And our memories and our dreams.

Yet, a Queen requires her homage,
And of fealty the token -
And a part of us is ever rapt away in her enchantment;
Thus in unseen hosts we revel, in the wind
And in the starlight, in kaleidoscopic colors
Sensed at midnight round the moon --
In her retinue our spirits travel on.

We have come here with our hungers
And our thirstings and our cravings;
Found a host here to appease our appetites;
There is little to complain of in the bargain
We have made here,
And for what we have received
It is faire price.