Wendy's Page

Gypsy Caravan

Winter Moon

Winter Solstice

This story was told to me in a dream one night, where I was simultaneously the old gypsy storyteller, one of the children at her feet and the young dancer whose story was being told. It actually woke me up and insisted I write it. It was almost like it was being channeled or something, except that I had to figure out how to make it all rhyme...



Dance Gypsy



The full moon has come to the gypsy encampment
The horses at rest and the bonfire laid
A blanket of stars settles down o’er the wagons
And out of the night steps a bold gypsy maid

Crimson and gold is the cloth which adorns her
Flashing dark eyes and black flowing hair
Slim as a reed she stands by the fire
With one supple arm flung into the air

Sweetly at first come the instruments voices
Violins passed on for hundreds of years
Witness to all of a gypsy’s great passion
Polished with many a wanderer’s tears

Ever so slowly the gypsy maid dances
And circles the fire with sparks in her eyes
Then leaping and bending and whirling faster
She dances her joy for the stars in the skies

Around and about the maid spins enchantment
And even old souls are stirred by the sight
Passions run high in the heart of the gypsy
For every man here knows what happens tonight

A night of all nights is this, to be sure
When a young gypsy maid, unwooed and unwed
Loosens the braids of her childhood years
And takes for herself a lover to bed

Skillful and sure are the steps of the maiden
Instinctively knowing with all of her heart
The path she must take and the obstacles there
That keep a young girl and her lover apart

Then suddenly everything ceases to move
The violins gone from the quiet night air
To the grass, like a stone, drops the maid by the fire
And offers her hand to the man who stands there

For this is the man she has chosen to marry
The one who has stolen the heart from her breast
A laughing dark gypsy, both gently and strong
A loving companion on life’s gypsy quest

He leads her now gently deep into the forest
Where, soft with rose petals, the marriage bed stands
The symbol of joining throughout all the ages
Prepared by her husband with strong loving hands

As the young maidens cry of surrender goes out
Those in the camp will hear not a sound
For the feasting’s begun and the revels will last
‘Til the full gypsy moon sinks into the ground

Wine will flow swiftly as blood through the veins
As wild hearts sing and cry out to each other
Laughter and dancing and sweet violins
And every man here calls every man brother

So dance, gypsy, laugh, be merry and sing
Rejoice in the love found by two of our own
For tomorrow we go where the stars have decreed
But this night has seen two who shall not go alone



Wendy E.