A black-eyed girl,
Aridee
With long dark hair
Plaited with red ribbons,
Into a braid of rose and ebony.
She danced in fire-light
With the children of the village,
But by day
She sat by the river
And stared.

Tales from the south,
They came by runners
Feet ever pattering;
News of war.
Conquerors, armies
Deaths and plunders.
Rap, rap, rap
The feet of the runners
And cries as the villagers
Heard the news.
Rap, rap, rap
Each day more runners
Until people full of fear
Hid each day in dark houses.

But Aridee,
The village child,
She sat by the river
And stared.

Clang! The bells rang
On a summer’s noon,
When the stormy sky darkened
And the people cowered.
Clang! The watch bells,
Boom! The thunder,
The war drums of lightning,
People covered their ears.
While Aridee stood
On the darkened hills,
And stared at the masses,
As the river ran on.

Men from the South,
Armor stained red,
Swords at their sides
And crossbows loaded,
Torches they carried
Red light like their eyes
Echoes of blackened lands behind them.

Fear, all could feel it.
Fear, cried the children.
Fear, clutched old women
Hiding within dark houses.

But fear, they could breathe it.
Fear, brave the farmers
Fear, strong the old horses,
Fear, sharp the harvesting scythes.

The battle, the torrents
Brave men against killers,
And mighty the tolls,
Aridee did not stare,
But sat by the river,
No weapon to fight
Her own weakness with;
No sheild to protect
Her own people with;
Closed eyes, but the battle
She could not stop seeing.

Conquerors retreated;
To come back when stronger,
Not quite defeated
 But now they felt fear.
There, they saw death
In the eyes of the farmers.
The farmers cried victory
Towards the grey sky,
But then cried their loss
As the battlefield showed
How many had died.

Aridee, Said the people
She hid not; why?
When their love lay in mounds
As if the earth, also wounded
Now weeped.
Aridee, she sat
By the river
And stared.

Crazy, they called her
As they rebuilt burnt houses
She mourns not, they thought
When she sat by the mounds
And stared, eyes dry.
Perhaps an enemy, even, 
A few dared to whisper
But most gave their pity,
And hid from her stare.

Aridee, her black eyes
That saw faces in shadow
And eyes in the river
Cried not, though she shook
While she sat and stared.

Two years passed,
And Aridee
The black-eyed girl
Spoke not.
Crazy Aridee,
The children called her,
She does not cry,
She only stares
She knows nothing
And hides not from death.

Aridee, she believed
Put down her ribbons
And let her dark hair grow tangled
Slept by the river;
Her home, long gone.
People mocked her,
Grabbed stones to throw,
But stopped when she looked up
And stared. 

Then Aridee saw
In the sun and the water
More cities burnt–
An army approaching!
She saw death, and knew it
She breathed fear, and felt it
So she screamed.

They come! She shouted,
Run! Hide! Run!
Rap, rap, rap
Her feet ran
Like a messenger’s
And she called
And she cried.
Crazy Aridee, they said
Her voice, hoarse from silence
Could not move them now,
Run! Hide! They come!

And rocks thrown, they hurt.
Taunts, they hurt harder.
So Aridee sat
And shook, but cried not
Crazy Aridee who stared.

But the sun still shone
And Aridee saw death,
Knew him, brushed her hair
And plaited it in braids
With blue ribbons.
Borrowed a scythe
From a dead man,
And went out to meet death
On her own.

Aridee, black braids flying
Crossed hills to the South
‘Neath the blood sun rising.
A scythe glinting, and black eyes
That stared.

Night came,
In the cold
She had no blanket
But still she walked;
And came
To a conqueror’s camp;
Killers and pirates
Mercenaries, they laughed
Over what they had taken
From war-torn lands.
Aridee, she stared
And did not know why she came.
Her weapon, a scythe
Her defense, two eyes;
Nothing else to face
A whole army.

But Aridee tried,
Stared, and saw prisoners.
Hid, and released them;
Five men.
Four ran, and one stayed.
Davin the brave.
The sentries then saw them,
A girl and a prisoner,
And laughed as they readied their swords.

Davin the brave, a hero once
Grabbed the scythe and fought
Til’ the killers stopped laughing.
But no man can defeat
An army, nor could he
As he sank to his knees from loss of blood.

Aridee, she shook,
Screaming, she closed her eyes,
Hid behind black hair
Torn from blue ribbons
To block out her sight,
But she saw even then.
Hope; gone,
Death; she knew it
She saw it,
And for the first time
Aridee cried.

Tears like thunder,
Lighting like sunlight
Davin, he watched
Through his pain
But delirious he saw, 
A girl crying black fire and death
As an army fell.
And who can believe
A delirious witness?

Three in the field then,
Aridee and Davin
And death reaching for the man.
No, said black eyes
Aridee with her eyes.
I’ve seen too much, Aridee
With her long dark hair said.
Take me instead.

So Davin woke,
Saw not death, but knew him
Saw not Aridee, but blue ribbons
And wondered.

The villagers lived
As they had, unknowing
Hidden in dark houses
And closed eyes.

And Aridee sits,
By the river she sits
Where the brave ones go
Blind, she stares no longer
Black-eyed Aridee.