IVF

The Colossus (after 1808) by Francisco de Goya

Oh fair soul with frame too light

To bend the sparrows feather,

Pray hear tell of the little sprite

Who ages ago danced into this nether.

She came from the great unknown

To this lowly meadow brook.

Without love and all alone,

For others she began to look.

She met with none to start,

Not even her mother.

This broke her young heart

And left her to sit and wonder.

Deep in thought she did not see

A giant large as it was vile.

In an instant she was above the trees

And stuck into a vial.

The vial grew frightfully cold

And the dance of life slowed

‘Til time itself grew old

And by her the world strode.

The fairy’s mind was numb

And her body frozen stiff

But it did not stay that way forever

For at last the enchanted frost dismissed. 

Again the giant held its prey.

With a shake of its head

It threw the fairy away

To the land of the dead.

There the fairy lay in a heap

And gathered her final breath of air

To cast a spell strong and deep

That the giant God might spare.

Little one, I tell you true

That the fairy of this story

Is none other than you

Before you reached your glory.

Though your body was light

You have the soul of a giant

Though you could not fight

Your God was triumphant.