There was a Boy by Gmariam
Chapter Notes: This poem was written to parallel There was a Boy by William Wordsworth. You can read the original poem at: http://www.bartleby.com/145/ww144.html
There was a Boy
There was a Boy; ye knew him well, ye castle
And grounds of Hogwarts! Many a night
At dusk, when the dim stars began
To rise with the curtain of night,
Glittering and glowing, would he stand alone,
Beneath the dark forest, or by the black lake;
And there, with hands at his side, eyes
Focused grimly on the ground and gleaming
Brightly, he, as if a creature of stealth,
Hissed softly to the slithering serpents
That they might obey him. – And they would come
Across the damp grass, and answer once more,
Responsive to his command – with shuddering murmurs
And shivering whispers, and spits, and hisses,
Recurring and repeated; a sordid gathering
Of sanguine sound! And, when there came a hint
Of disobedience such as enraged his errant mind:
Then, at times, in fearful wrath, while he stood
Staring, a livid flash of fiery anger
Has carved from his soul the sense
Of compassionate mercy; or the subversive scene
Would cut into his heart
With its bleak betrayal, its dark deceit,
Its treachery, and that unfaithful life was received
Into the icy depths of the black lake.
This boy had given up his life, and died
In childhood, the year he was sixteen years old and did murder.
Paramount in magic is the place
Where he was raised to knowledge: the castle stands
Upon the banks above the black lake;
And through those grounds where my feet have tread
On weary evenings, I believe that there
A long time alone I have stood
Silent – staring at the ground in which he shall one day lie!
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A/N: Many thanks to myownmuggle for looking over my second attempt at poetry in the Potterverse!