Magpie-Standing at the Window

There was once a princess by name,
Tania was the girl to claim,
Seek her hand, many men did,
All for her beauty and father's bid.

Her hair shone like the evening star,
Her songs heard from lands afar,
Her rosy lips to please the eye,
Her eyes would make a grown man cry.

But Tania's father was wise a man,
As wise as any man can,
He knew his daughter was so sought,
He knew the problems this beauty brought.

So one day he told his wife,
His daughter must not feel the strife,
He thought he might take her away,
To live alone from day to day.

Tania was taken to a garden,
Away from eyes of jew or christian,
Gave her toys to play with each day,
Brought her gifts for her to play.

But Tania was unsatisfied,
Often she looked to the hillside,
Where far off the village sat nestled,
Where butter churned and young boys wrestled.

Tania longed for a friend,
Someone to who she could depend,
She wished for a man to keep,
The feeling love from stories deep.

So one day, she slipped away,
Over the wall to where the village lay,
And as she walked the cobbled streets,
It was a man that she meets.

His name was Jack, a strapping lad,
Apprentice to his carpenter dad,
She bumped into him by the mill,
And with love did her heart fill.

Jack asked Tania to take him now,
They ran off with one horse and a cow,
Away from eyes and spies,
Under the blue of the skies.

But woe is Tania, word met thier ears,
That a brutal war nears,
And all the words she could say,
Would not keep Jack away.

Jack left her belly round with child,
To go fight in the war wild,
Tania stood at the pane,
As down came the rain.

Jack died, shot to the heart,
Covered in the war wounds art,
And Tania still stand waiting his return,
A day, a month she can't discern.

Tania stands and waits for him,
Her face now pale, her eyes now grim,
Her hairs turned white like the snow,
Her child left her long ago.

Tania stands and waits for Jack,
She still whispers "He'll be back..."