One for Sorrow

One for Sorrow

One for sorrow, two for joy, Three for a girl, and four for a boy; Five for silver, six for gold, Seven for a secret never told.

Eight for a tale the stars have spun, Nine for gates that can’t be undone; Ten for a river of forgotten lore, Eleven for the spectral door.

Twelve for a mirror that reflects the night, Thirteen for a beast that lives in spite; Fourteen for a realm beyond our reach, Fifteen for a speech no tongue can teach.

Sixteen for a dream trapped fast in stone, Seventeen for old gods beneath a hollow moon; Eighteen for the abyss that gazes back, Nineteen for formless cosmic wrack.

Twenty for the magpie’s final verse, In a universe where shadows converse. The end of the rhyme, the start of the dread— And not a single word is said.