Before Dusk

My dear Sylvie,

As you enter my room, you will find me missing,

For I will be with the party sent out by the King.

It will take us four days and four nights,

And hopefully by the fifth I shall be home all right.

But if I am not back before the dusk of the fifth day,

Then weep for me, as I will never again return that way,

For company I am with sets out to hunt for the sorceress,

Under the order of King, for her role in the Evestown nest.

By her garden flowers, several of the kids perished,

Leaving the parents with nothing but memories cherished.

The sorceress escaped before the oncoming rage of the King's men,

Running away in the deep of the night, we laughing as she ran.

But weird legends have been told of people who grew such flowers,

Like how they have no shadow, and sleep and move in odd hours,

How their feet point opposite their eyes, which glint in the dark,

And they harbor spirits of old, before the time of the Ark.

Such is the being I am hunting, and I fear what may befall the company,

For though we are brave and proud, our foe is something no one can see.

I would have liked to be with you now, and Charlie too,

For even though I never said it before, but I love you.

So wait for me Sylvie, before the dusk of the fifth day,

And weep for me please, if I am absent, till the summer of May.

But If I come back after the sun sets on the fifth day,

Don't let me in, no matter what I say.

And tell Charlie to shoot me in the Lord's name,

For I won't be me, even though I may look the same.

I will not have any shadow, nor will my eyes have any love,

You will see my body, but my soul will be up above.

Know this, my love, that I dreamed of a future of you and me,

In spirit of which I hunt the enemy that no one can see,

And If I return on the fifth day after the sun sets,

Then forget me, Sylvie, no matter how tough it gets.

Yours truly,

Arabi