The Fate of Gaia and Tao....

Once upon a time on a moonlight night

The beautiful Tao went walking,

She skipped and danced and frolicked along

But behind her a Witch came stalking,

The witch was jealous of the young girls figure

Her hair, her eyes, her lips,

But most of all, the witch was tormented

By the sprightly spring of Tao’s hips,

Then into a clearing the beauty wandered

Where she stumbled upon a lake,

Calm and serene, a beautiful sight,

The girl just couldn’t wait,

She removed her clothes, plunged right in,

Under the silver moons gaze,

But out crept the witch from behind the trees

And stole the girls clothes away,

While Tao was swimming full of peace

The witch concocted a notion,

To steal the girls beauty and lock her away

She would need a very strong potion,

So she took from the clothes a strand of hair

And mixed it up in a brew,

Then cast a spell to the darkness below

To make her dreams come true,

All at once the sky turned stormy

And the earth began to shake,

And the beautiful girl trembled and cried

In the middle of the beautiful lake,

Her long black hair was shrivelled away

And scales grew in place of her skin,

Her eyes turned yellow and gills appeared

And three hairs grew out of her chin,

Envied no more, Tao was much changed

She was ugly and slimy and vile,

The witch in turn looked young and fresh

And she winked as she flashed her smile,

She turned on her heels and left her creation

To dwell in this tainted place,

To live out her days as a creature rare

The lady of the lake.

You may think this is just the end

But let me assure you, it’s not,

For in the spell there was a clause

That the creature never forgot,

She waited for a hundred years

In the depths of a hidden cave,

To spy a one of equal beauty

To her in her glory days,

Time passed slowly for the creature scorned

Until the day finally came,

When a girl of immeasurable beauty arrived

And Gaia was her name,

Now Gaia was a curious girl

Some say mischievous too,

She was clever and young and funny and free

And did what she liked to do,

The creature and Gaia quickly made friends

Inseparable right from the start,

Gaia was kind and pure and loving

Most of all she had a big heart,

Gaia loved her friend despite the scales

That covered it head to toe,

And despite the fact it smelt of fish

And its hair would never grow,

Now each time she went Gaia noticed

In the creature an eagerness swelling,

A repeated request time after time

That Gaia enter the cave of its dwelling,

Now I said before that the girl had brains

As well as incredible grace,

So every day she refused her friend

 With a gentle smile on her face,

But one summer’s day from within the cave

The creature began to cry,

And Gaia’s pure heart began to break

And tears dripped from her eye,

“I must make sure my friend is okay,

She sounds so full of woe”

So she took off her clothes, jumped into the pool

And in the cave she whispered “hello?”

The crying continued so Gaia went forth

To the darkest depths of the lair,

Where the creature was waiting for her approach

Pretending to be in despair,

As Gaia moved closer she began to see

It was all a horrible trick,

But by this time there was no escape

And the creature was mighty quick,

It brewed a pot of beauties trinkets

And spoke a wicked art,

And it took a dagger and plunged it deep

Into Gaia’s fair heart,

She ripped out the muscle and gobbled it down

As the poor girl lay on the floor,

And the hideous creature quick as a flash

Was a hideous creature no more,

Her scales fell away and her hair grew back

Black and shiny and long,

And the hairs on her chin fell to the floor

One by one by one,

Now she is free to wander the earth

The most beautiful girl around,

To be adored forever more

Is the lovely and radiant Tao.

But what of Gaia, the lovely Gaia

Lying dead and cold and alone,

Well the lizards and maggots and fishes and flies

Began crawling over her bones,

They picked and poked and nibbled and munched

And around her they wrapped a cocoon,

And for a day and a night they nervously waited

For the eve of the highest full moon,

Then she burst forth and let out a cry

 Revealing a strange transformation,

But the lizards and fishes and maggots were pleased

With their wonderfully ugly creation,

So do not despair for our dearest Gaia

Although she has suffered Tao’s sin,

For now her skin is made of scales

And three hairs she has on her chin,

No more shall she walk upon the shore

She will dwell in this tainted place,

To live out her days as a creature rare,

The lady of the lake.