Elven Archer

The elven archer, so full of life,
Across the bleak and narrow,
With accomplices by his side,
A silver bow and arrow.
His soul is free, cannot be caged,
Like a stallion in a stable,
Those who have tried to go and claim him,
Have found themselves unable.
The elven archer, in love with life,
Came across a gnomish man,
Who smiled and said in a scruffy old voice;
"Catch me if you can."
Now, the elven archer was a man
That a challenge he wouldn't turn down,
He nocked his bow and arrow,
And set off across the ground.
Then as he reached the stormy sea,
The gnomish man he found,
But before either of them could speak a word,
There came a graceful sound.
The elven  archer turned to the gnome,
And lowered his arrow and bow,
A smile formed on the gnome-man's lips,
And vanished like spring snow.
The elven archer heard the song,
As it drifted across the shore,
A song so sweet he knew he'd never
Heard anything like it before.
He crossed the rocks until he saw,
A maiden with golden mail,
Upon a closer look, he saw,
The maiden had a tail.
Her hair was pink, her eyes were green,
Her skin the fairest white,
Said the elven archer to the lass,
"Why have you called to me this night?"
She turned her head and spoke to him,
Like a spirit from the sea,
"Come with me my elven archer,
I'll show you what I see."
A wary step across the sand,
To where the mermaid sat,
And she stole away his silver bow,
And shattered it in half.
The mermaid laughed and grabbed his hand,
Diving deep into the water,
Downward to her dark home,
She had found what she had longed for.
The elven archer fought the girl,
With all his strength and might,
He held his breath as long as he could,
Before he gave up the fight.
The archer slept beneath the sea,
With a mermaid hand in hand,
Drifting father in the sea,
As she took him to her land.
The elven archer sprang to life,
As soon as he could breathe,
And gazed at all the wonder,
His eyes could not believe.
Stone walls laced in diamonds,
The beauty of the deep,
Forever mermaid's prisoner,
Forever she would keep.
The mermaid lass called to him,
From across the golden shore,
Singing out to her elven archer,
The man that she adored.
He found her sitting by a pond,
Whose water caverns led,
To the greatest of all castles,
Or so the mermaid said.
The elven archer would not speak,
Even though the mermaid smiled,
“Do not be sad, my elven archer,
It’s only for awhile.”
The mermaid laughed, and flicked her fin,
As the archer shed a tear,
“This mystic place is all so grand,
But I do not belong here.”
The mermaid’s smile had faded,
Looking only blank,
And back into the water,
The mermaid slowly sank.
The elven archer looked away,
And in silence he did grieve,
He could never be a prisoner,
If only the lass could see.
“I told the gnome,” the mermaid said,
To him later that day,
“That if he brought you to me,
In gold and gems I would pay.
It breaks my heart to give you up,
To the dryness of the land.
You go where I cannot follow.”
And she held out her hand.
The elven archer held her hand,
And she pulled him into the sea,
“For me a fish, and you a bird,
It could never be.”
When they reached the land, He stepped ashore,
And turned back to him mermaid lass,
He grinned at her reached down,
Plucking his bow from the grass.
She sang a song of sorrow,
That could melt a heart of stone,
Then dove back to the ocean,
Leaving the elf alone.
The elven archer walks alone,
Across the winding trails,
At last a life of his own,
No more sea-women with tails.
The mermaid died not long after,
She passed of a broken heart,
But now they walk together,
Ghost and elf never apart.
Though he cannot see her,
Her memory will still be,
Of a mermaid that stole the archer,
And took him to the sea.
The elven archer, full of life,
Across the bleak and narrow,
With accomplices at his side,
A silver bow and arrow.