black dog song

o Eilenor, why is your face so ashen? Your cheeks
are as something captured under ice---

Ailea is dead, she whispered, and her eyes were frost
still with wishing she did not believe.

How do you know? You can know no such thing, and she
is far away.

For in a dream she came to me and said, 'my love,
the time has come to meet my task at last,

for these long wanderings are come to end. You shall know
our fortune by a dog you find this morning on your doorstep:

for if I fail, his coat shall be the gray of rain; golden
as the morning for my victory; and he the black of sorrow

if at once I am betrayed.' I reached for her, imploring
her to stay awhile, but it was morning. She was gone.

And was there a dog upon your doorstep, then?
I could not breathe. My heart felt that it would stop---

The tall, thin hound was darker than a deep wound
but shone in sunlight red as clotted blood

and soft as her hair was, that I will never touch again.
His eyes are black glass, wary and all seeing---

He stood and came to me at once.
You see, he has not left my side.