The Shadow Man

There was a man who dwelt alone

   beneath the moon in shadow.

He sat as long as lasting stone,

   and yet he had no shadow.

The owls, they perched upon his head

   beneath the moon of summer:

They wiped their beaks and thought him dead,

   who sat there dumb all summer.

There came a lady clad in grey

   beneath the moon a-shining.

One moment did she stand and stay

   her head with flowers entwining.

He woke, as had he sprung of stone,

   beneath the moon in shadow,

And clasped her fast, both flesh and bone ;

   and they were clad in shadow.

And never more she walked in light,

   or over moonlit mountain,

But dwelt within the hill, where night

   is lit but with a fountain -

Save once a year when caverns yawn,

   and hills are clad in shadow,

They dance together then till dawn

   and cast a single shadow. 

First published in “The Annual” of Our Lady’s School, Abingdon (1936)