Wicked Lady

For every crescent moon that kissed the raven sky,

Penetrates with heavens glare that darkness of her life,

It excites and toys with passions pleasures for plight,

To don a nightshade cape, the exploit’s that never trite,

Thus recapturing the feminine’s fallen glory,

It is here I recite her wicked story.

 

Draped in darkness unforgiving, this lady did depart the law,

And travel by saddle through fortunes door,

Past the calls of honour and duty, secretes she did succeed,

Through nightly hours Chaplin she did lead,

Tally forth on noble steed,

to refund their pocket with golden means,

Singing laughter at pleasures chore,

While country and kin fleet to war,

 

Wicked Lady lay in wait once more,

To salvage Markyate estate’s galore,

Only to flee fate in masque fire fair,

and tragic death this woman did bear,

And still she be spoken of as hero debonair.

 

And still the whispered songs are sung, chants of the female on the run,

Though Gustard Wood now lay undone,

And so to it must be as time goes on, truth laid its head as legend.

 

Reviews

[R J Askew]

Marvellous stuff! Love the first line especially...and 'the nightshade cape'...and 'Wicked lady in wait once more' which could also mean that she, or her ghost, rides anew. These three lines are also bang on and work really well, 'And still the whispered songs are sung, chants of the female on the run, Though Gustard Wood now lay undone'. Oh, and also like 'travel by saddle through fortune's door'...and the gentle rhyme based on door/war etc
Nomansland Common and Gustard Wood are only a few miles from where I live and I can picture where her Ladyship and Chaplin may have lain in wait, horses pawing the ground. Muffled hooves I wonder? It's a great story/legend and very romantic. She was young, daring, tragic in a time of war and upheaval. And a couple of centuries before the second battle of St.Albans was fought on the same ground in the War of the Roses. So it is fertile ground for history, and all kinds of exploits, romantic and illegal. I look forward to every Hoof-And-Heart-Beat you come up with on the WL...and whatever spin-offs your imagination conjours up.

[J.K. (Not Rowling)]

From the first lines, this reminded me of the start to a grand epic poem (i.e. Chaucer, Homer, or Dante). I like how your protagonist (that wicked lady... but aren't we all?) seems to have a bit of Robin Hood in her, the outlaw stealing from the rich and giving to the poor. I truly enjoyed this piece at its current length, but also think (if you chose) you could make a longer work out of this. My opinion, she's not wicked, just misunderstood.