The Hunter and the Raven

You were the raven

When I was just a lad

I saw you rise

Over tall tree tops

You soared with black feathers

That gleamed like the night

And you sang that song

That my heart longed to hear

You stayed in the tree

Above the home of my youth

I would sit in it's shade

And bask in your song

But then your wings grew

And too soon you did fly

So far from that tree

And my house at it's base

And the farther you flew

With each beat of your wings

The notes of the song

Were dimmed in my mind

And I longed for the song

Though I knew not it's chords

And the seasons did pass

And I grew into a man

Mighty hunter of the land

And the trees no longer

As tall as before

I was out among them

When I heard it again

Your song on the wind

You winged back to me

And it was so sudden

That I could recall all

Each note and each phrase

Your song was my all

And I would sing it

And you would come

Always to the sound

The sound of my song

But again as you flew

The song began to fade

So I made a dark plan

To never lose the song again

I chose thickest vines

And using ancients designs

I made my net fast

Locked with the elder's rhymes

Nothing could escape

The perfect trap I did lay

I waited for you return

Then finally came the day

When you floated by

On the forest's wind

Between trees and light

Your form glided in

And as the song started

Again my heart leapt

But the trap was set

And the net descended

Now you were mine

Caught in my trap

Bound by my knots

Never to leave again

But as I rose to claim you

Your song now to be mine

You sang something different

And shone with light

And you were transformed

There before my eyes

Your feathers unwrapped

To reveal pale skin behind

No ordinary bird were you

No this was now plain

You are the Maiden of the Raven

And I had captured you

But when you transformed

Into your maidenly form

The net was too tight

And in struggling I saw

It tighten further

Around your pale neck

And I knew the for certain

My net would be your end

For if I let you fly

Your song would leave too

And I would hear never again

Your voice on the wind

And I knew if I kept you

You'd struggle in vain

And the net would still tighten

And you'd die for my gain

But ere my mind could be made

Your eyes glistened and then

From their ever fonts sprang

The tears my heart rent

For your tears raven maiden

Like no tears before

Were black as the night

As they dripped down your jaw

For ink were your tears

And two ink pools you cried

As the net slowly tightened

And as I knew I would die

When I unleashed my knife

Of coldest made stone

And advanced on you maiden

And knelt beside you alone

With a flash of the knife

The deed was quickly done

The ropes were severed

And my heart was undone

And as quick as a flash

Your feathers returned

And you sprang upon wings

And the wind was heard

You sang your song

One last time as you flew

But then I knew at once

What I ought to do

I knelt by the pools

Of tears that you shed

And using that ink

I wrote down as led

For the song you sang

Would fade in my mind

But I had it for now

Even if just for a time

And I wrote down your song

Oh raven maiden I wrote

And made sure to recall

Each and every single note

And then when the song

Had departed from my mind

I could sing it again

And remember your smile

And you came back to me

In answer to the song

And I knew then just how

I had been foolish and wrong

For one cannot capture

A creature so fair

That flies on enchantment

As the maiden did there

With knots and ropes

These tools will not do

No only with words

Could I capture you