The Wedding Feast

Evening fell upon the wedding feast
The guests were blessed by the priest
They toasted as the banquet spread
And drank deep to the newlywed

Then dancing on the dewy lawn
She trembled like a newborn fawn
While the twinkling stars bespoke
Their solitude ’fore dawn awoke

She said my Christ I choose thy cross
My souls ruin is Ishtar’s loss
She mixed a poison in her wine
A crown of thorns from tangled vine

A dream where paper lanterns hang
Between the trees when midnight rang
To lead her to the wedding-bed
And bid her soul lost to the dead

Solo

When dawn arose her tender breath
Did not awake the bride from death
Her spirit wanders through the deep
And dreams in the abyss of sleep              

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Copyright Jeffrey S. Merk 2013