Susan Fromberg Schaeffer - Alphabet for the Lost Years

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		The verses in Susan's fourth book of poetry are imbued with the same supernatural light which suffuses the black and white photographs adorning these pages. A cross between nursery rhymes and mystical incantation, these are bedtime stories which are bound to open strange doors in one's dreams.

	THE ICE MAIDEN I wanted my love, So I took my silver horse, And my silver broom, And my silver pails And rode of 7 white hills And 7 white dales. And 7 white mountains, And there, Where the world had turned from summer to winter, I found him. He was encased in a block of ice, Great silvery ice. He smiled when he saw me. "I will get you fire," I said, Sending my broom to the sun. It touched the ice, the ice glowed like flesh, Then faded, blue-white. "I will get water," I said, And sent the pails to the sun, And they came back silver with steam. My broomstick lifted and poured them And his ice clouded Like a window puffed over with breath. Then it cleared, it had grown bigger. "I will get earth," I said, And took my hands, Their nails sharper than knives. My hands turned blue, The ice latticed and left. "I will take your place," I said, Then he stepped out, More handsome than fire, More necessary than water, The earth in his eyes. Through the blue pane of ice I saw his 4 gold horseshoes Strike gold from the sun And the sun rode behind him, Holding tight to his waist. O I am the blue girl, I am the blue girl, My veins are bluer Than blue veins in a flower, And under the blue moon Is where I am now.