Note that there are a finite number of names and any resemblance to the
name borne by any Achaean, living or deceased, is purely coincidental.

Melissa, the Jewelled Crown

I remember a girl with eyes grey as evening
And hair the colour of deep, darkest night.
Whose laughter banished all fear and shadow
And bathed all who heard in her soft, gentle light.

I remember days that we wandered together.
Of fields and of hills, of rivers and streams.
Of breathless touching, of spirits sharing
The coming together of dreams.

I remember a girl, who danced o'er the meadow,
Who smiled at the lambs and the birds on the wing,
Who grew as a woman in grace and in beauty,
And who placed, on her finger, my ring.

I remember an arrow, that came out of shadow.
That pierced her deep; my wife, my bride.
And all the love that burned within me
Could not keep her at my side.

So, along a simple grave,
I make my place and lay me down
And watch the heavens, as they form
Her eternal, jewelled, crown.


Penned by my hand on the 16th of Miraman, in the year 376 AF.