• when they found the orchard beneath the earth,
    the dwarves, in their twittering tongue,
    could not decide what to do with it.
    The brassy trees, leaves of sculpted
    bronze and gold, shaking
    in some unknown cavernous draft from
    deep chasms beyond.
    The iron-bark, and
    multi-faceted fruits, apples like rubies
    and pomegranates that shone
    topazes in torchlight
    and were sweeter than a mother's love
    when bit into.
    Eventually, they decided
    to leave a guard, a man made
    from iron and silver, eyes coal-bright
    and a heart of stained glass.
    Carefully they crafted him
    and armed him with hammer and shield
    and stood him guard over the orchard
    this beautiful knight-beneath-earth.
    Eventually, the dominions of the lower kingdoms found him
    and their princess-witches encircled him
    and cast their charms at his feet, and wooed him
    with snake-green eyes and lips like blood.
    But his stained-glass heart held firm,
    and still he cast them from the orchard again and again.
    He stands there still, today
    and they too, perhaps unchanged
    despite the unending years below
    Perhaps you hear them singing now
    Now, by chance, you know.