Peggy wore black socks
As she ran her laps before soccer practice
And during the school day
Her uniform skirt had a hem
Lower than that of the other tenth-grade girls
And unknown to them she filled notebooks
With twilit stories about the terrifying forest
And the Wild Girl who dwelt there
For it came to pass
That on the appointed day
As the most valuable of possessions
By virtue of her tender years and noble birth
She was brought into the forest
Even unto the farthest point
To be given back to the Powers
To purchase their placidity
That the people might earn their livings unmolested
At the edge of the forest
And even unto the farthest point
And sure enough after the people had departed
The Powers came
Hulking Glumgrim
And leafy Entriffid
And Gelida of the freezing touch
And the others willowy or round scurrying or slow
And collected her and harmed her not
But raised her as their own
For they pitied her small size and tender years
And vouchsafed unto her such lore
As to the people was unknown
And she grew and throve in the terrifying forest
And it came to pass that on a certain day
The people penetrated deep into the forest
Even unto the farthest point
For they had exhausted their stores
But their efforts to collect the forest treasures
Had availed not and they sat sore dismayed
For they knew that male and female alike
The ancients of days and those of tender years
Would perish here in the forest deep
And unknown to them the Wild Girl
The forsaken one
Filled their baskets and filled their bags
To keep them living for many days
Back in the world of people
And they were sore amazed
That this day when they had so lost heart
And grieved as never before
Should be the appointed day of bounty
And as I girded myself for practice in the other field
She caught my eye
Wiry not voluptuous
Slight not curvaceous
And she held my eye
That night before I could give in to sleep