Author Information
Lady Grace
Where the river's cool stream curls
Where many have come with their golden girls,
And seven leagues from the great river's flow,
Is a farm upon which an east wind blows.
And who dwells in the house of this place?
None other but a farmer and his daughter Grace.
She was lovely and her hair was of gold
Like the grain that grew on the rolling wold.
Her hand was soft as eastern silk,
And her crystal voice sang as she milked.
She wore a dress adorned with white lace,
And on her helm was stitched her name: Grace.
Suitors came and suitors went.
There was one whose days where nearly spent.
Yet she only laughed at his request
Because he was old and not of the best.
There was another whose blue tunic bore runes of old;
A scholar was he and carried a bag of gold.
Her love could not be bought and she dismissed his money.
Next came one from the north who was clumsy and funny,
One whose name was Bull and could wrestle a boar,
And one happened to stop by because his leg was sore.
Another one bearing gifts from a far land.
Suitors, all, one after the other, seeking her hand.
Oft times she would walk along the river's edge
Or sit in the shade of the green water hedge.
Daily, a shadow and sadness in her heart grew
For she had yet to find a love that was true.
One day she dipped her feet in the water's cool
And drifted to sleep and fell into the pool.
Her cries for help could not be heard
It touched no ear of man, beast, or bird.
And down the river's current she floated silently
Pass the villages and nearer to the ocean free.
But she washed upon a lord's land
And his men pulled her upon the sand.
The lord looked on her and mused a little space
And said, "My, lovely is her face."
And seeing she was dead, he cried a tear
Saying, "Of pain you no longer have to fear."
He looked upon her dress and her white lace.
He read her helm aloud, "Her name is Grace."
And hearing her name, her eyes blinked free,
And she gazed upon his face merrily.
With a shout he exclaimed, "You are alive!
Blessed is the One by whom the dead is revived!"
And she said, "I had a strange dream.
But have opened my eyes to an even stranger scene."
The lord took the farmer's daughter as his wife,
And in her heart ceased all despair and strife,
For now she had a husband, she finally had her knight.
The Lord of Earth looked upon with his loving sight
And blessed her evermore in eyes of man,
For peace had come, and tranquility to the land.
And when the people came from far away,
She lifted their tired souls and bid them stay.
Never was a lady so loved and so blessed
As she who upon men's ears, a sweat song caressed.
And all who look upon her says, "She has a lovely face.
This beautiful, compassionate woman, our Lady Grace!"
