Dreamer Underground

 
O, Merlin dread, we place this stone
above your head
to safely bind your spells alone
and call your fancies dead
while we above, the farmers, tread
and build our homes and earn our bread
 
Yes, Merlin, I the village elf
I cannot lie
I lock you there as well myself
and mumble prayers as I pass by
against your magic, God knows why:
to save our health, let Merlin die
 
But words of prayer and words of spell
are of a pair
and every time I pass your cell
I feel a stirring in the air
perhaps your magic makes me dare
to bid you well in secret prayer
 
Sink as the tide sinks
fall as the waves fall
fade as the day fades
die as the seed dies
 
Wait as the minutes wait
see as the blind see
speak as the heart speaks
love as the Loved loves
 
Merlin suffering under stone
Merlin when my voice is gone
do not let your life go slack
or magic change – from white to black
 
Merlin childlike in your age
shield that child and teach that sage
so both released with magic may
enchant the sun some free-er day
 
                        (to a poet imprisoned for political reasons, 1960s)