Nimue

Nimue beguiled merlin
So it is said by fools
But how can you beguile a man
Who sees in crystal pools
The dragons of the future
And the ravens of the past
The pleasures yet unborn by time
The lotus eaters’ repast.
You can not beguile such a man
But you can love him til
Seeing your face in every drop,
He falls to do your will.

Nimue beguiled merlin
So say the fusty scribes
Who scratch in marginalia
But do not please their wives.
For dust begats dust in the night
And in the day likewise
And those who have no time for love
They are not like the wise.
The dweomer-crafty dreamer,
Knew when the dream is good
And willingly walked on the path
That lead to Nimue's wood.

Nimue beguiled merlin
Stole that gray prince away
So Arthur reft of guidance
Would face his final day.
This is the libel spoken
The slander in the scrolls
But libel's but a token
Speech the victor's gold extolls.
Rather foreseeing endings,
Tragedy he could not quell
Merlin in sorrow keening,
sought her who loved him well.

Nimue beguiled merlin?
She loved him, and that said,
The wizard in the crystal cave,
Came like, a man, to bed.
In its ever turning images,
He made his court to her,
'Twas Merlin beguiled Nimue,
If there was beguiling there.
Between the likes of wizards,
And the likes of women too,
It's not the place for simple men,
To judge what things they do.