PART ONE
I
THE wind was a torrent of darkness among the gusty trees,
The moon was a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
The road was a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
And the highwayman came racing—
racing—racing—
The highwayman came racing, up to the Holloway’s door.
II
He'd a black helmet on his forehead, a knot of silk at his chin,
A coat of the blackest leather, and jeans of deep blue denim;
He wore them with gashes in the knees: his engine a dark battle-cry,
And he rode with a jewelled twinkle,
His violet eyes a-twinkle,
His brightest white fangs a-twinkle, under the star-lit sky.
III
All through the gravel he carved out a path in the dark courtyard,
And he peered through the glass of the windows, but all was locked and barred;
He climbed up to look in a dark cell; who should be locked up there?
The vampire’s charcoal-eyed lover,
Rose, the vampire’s lover,
Coating her neck with powder, to hide bite-marks there.
IV
And dark in the dark old courtyard a picnic table creaked
Where Tim the jailor listened; his face was white and peaked;
His eyes were hollowed prejudice, his hair like mouldy hay,
But he feared the vampire’s lover,
The vampire’s fang-marked lover,
Quiet as a mouse he listened, and heard the vampire say—
V
"One sip, my bonny sweetheart, I'm out for a feed to-night,
I shall be back filled with the red blood before the morning light;
Yet, if they hunt me smartly, and bury me through the day,
Then look for me by moonlight,
Watch for me by moonlight,
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way."
VI
He rose up on the handle bars; he scarce could reach her hand,
But she sliced her wrist o' the window! His throat burnt like a brand
As the iron cascade of perfume came tumbling over his mouth;
And he drank it in ‘neath the moonlight,
(Oh, sweet, red bliss in the moonlight!)
Then he tugged at his clutch in the moonlight, and screamed away to the South.
PART TWO
I
He did not come before dawning; did not come with the moon;
And out o' the golden sunrise, before the jail clock struck noon,
When the road was a gypsy's ribbon, looping the purple moor,
A slayer’s van came driving—
Driving—driving—
The hunting men came driving, up to the prison door.
II
They said no word to the jailor, they walked straight past instead,
But they gagged the vampire’s lover, and bound her to the foot of her bed;
Two of them knelt at her casement, with wood stakes at their side!
There was death at every window;
And hell at one dark window;
For Rose could see, through the portal, the road that he would ride.
III
They had tied her up to attention, with many a sniggering jest;
They bound a silver crossbow beside her, the pale tip beneath her breast!
"Now, keep good watch!" and they kissed her.
She heard the dead man say—
Look for me by moonlight;
Watch for me by moonlight;
I'll come to thee by moonlight, though hell should bar the way!
IV
She twisted her hands behind her; but all the knots held good!
She writhed her hands till her fingers were wet with sweat or blood!
They stretched and strained in her harness, and the hours crawled by like years,
Till, at the last of the sunlight,
On the last rays of sunlight,
The tip of one finger touched it! The trigger at least was hers!
V
The tip of one finger touched it; she strove no more for the rest!
Up, she stood up to attention, with silver tip beneath her breast,
She would not risk their hearing; she would not strive again;
For the road lay bare in the moonlight;
Blank and bare in the moonlight;
And the blood of her veins in the moonlight throbbed to her love's refrain .
VI
Revving; revving; Had they heard it? The engine growling clear;
Revving; revving, in the distance? Were they deaf that they did not hear?
Down the ribbon of moonlight, over the brow of the hill,
The highwayman came racing,
Racing, racing!
The slayers looked to their priming! She stood up, straight and still!
VII
Revving, in the frosty silence! Revving, in the echoing night!
Nearer he came and nearer! Her face was like a light!
Her eyes grew wide for a moment; she drew one last deep breath,
Then her finger moved in the moonlight,
Her crossbow shattered the moonlight,
Shattered her breast in the moonlight and warned him—with her death.
VIII
He turned; he spurred to the West; he did not know who stood
Bowed, with her head o'er the crossbow, drenched with her own red blood!
Not till next dark he heard it, his face grew grey to hear
How Rose, the vampire’s lover,
The vampire’s black-eyed lover,
Had watched for her love in the moonlight, and died in the darkness there.
IX
Back, he streaked like a madman, shrieking a curse to the sky,
With the white road smoking behind him and his magnum brandished high!
Blood-red were his eyes i' the silver moon; coal-black was his leather coat,
When they staked him down on the road,
Up in scarlet flames on the road,
Shrivelling into grey dust on the road, with the knot of silk at his throat.
* * * * * *
X
And still of a winter's night, they say, when the wind is in the trees,
When the moon is a ghostly galleon tossed upon cloudy seas,
When the road is a ribbon of moonlight over the purple moor,
A highwayman comes racing—
Racing—racing—
A highwayman comes racing, up to the prison door.
XI
All through gravel he carves out a path in the dark courtyard;
He peers through the glass of the windows, but all is locked and barred;
He climbs up to look in a dark cell; who should be locked up there?
The vampire’s charcoal-eyed lover,
Rose, the vampire’s lover,
Coating her neck with powder, to hide bite-marks there.
Tell me what you think.
Christ knows I have little better to do.
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