Willow's Forge by Sheila Kaye-Smith
A mad woman narrates her journey across the fields from Lattenden, past Honey Mill, hurrying in torn clothes and pain toward Willow's Forge at the bottom of the lane. She admits folk call her mad, describing how she bites her arms, washes the blood with tears, screams, talks to owls and crows, hears voices from the sky, and sees spirits riding at night, so that men shudder at her approach. She reveals her lover was hanged for stealing sheep, calling him a liar and a thief even as she insists she loved him, and says this loss drove her mad and set her wandering ever since. The previous night, beneath the Wain, she saw her love at Willow's Forge. His face was wan, his eye burning like a coal from hell, and though folk say he is among the damned souls, she declares she loves him still. His hands were misty as the moon, his lips and breast smeared with blood, his cheeks white as snow. She asks him where he has been through the weary, sleepless while, saying she has screamed and wept for his kiss and hungered for his smile. She wonders aloud whether he has been among the damned, where the dead lie like sheep in a fold, bleating and shivering in the cold, or whether he has been up among the sailing clouds, cast down as unfit for that place, or whether he has simply roamed all Sussex through in weariness and pain to meet her at Willow's Forge. He says nothing, only stares with a glazed and dreadful eye, his red lips shaking as though struggling to part in a cry but unable to speak. She fears he will vanish and leave her alone in the terror of the night. She begs him to kiss her before he goes, and he stoops his scarlet lips to hers: the living kissing the dead. His mouth is all on fire, burning her cheek and hair; she screams aloud, and he vanishes, leaving her waiting there alone. She tells her mother what has passed. Her mother shudders at the tale and offers a rational explanation: that she saw only moonlight through trees shivering in the gale, and that her burnt cheek, which makes her sob with pain, came from kissing the actual fire at Willow's Forge, at the bottom of the lane. But though she hears her mother's words, she refuses to believe them, holding instead to her conviction that she has at last met and kissed the lad for whom she grieves. She resolves that if she keeps haunting the meeting spot, she will see him there again, and that is why she hastens on to Willow's Forge, at the bottom of the lane.
By Sheila Kaye-Smith · First published 1914 · Genre: Gothic Poetry, Supernatural Fiction, Horror · 836 words
First lines
I've crossed the fields from Lattenden / And haunted Honey Mill, / My feet and all my clothes are torn. / Yet on I stumble still -- / I must not stay to speak to you / Or falter with my pain, / But hasten on to Willow's Forge, / At the bottom of the lane.
Folk call me mad -- perhaps 'tis true -- / My life is full of fears, / At whiles I bite my arms, and then / I wash the blood with tears. / I scream, I talk to owls and crows, / Hear voices from the sky, / I see the spooks that ride o' nights -- / Men shudder when I'm nigh.
Similar titles
- A Ghost Child by Bernard Capes
- I Have Lived With Shades by Thomas Hardy
- The Inscription by Thomas Hardy
- Spectres That Grieve by Thomas Hardy
- The Return Of The Dead And Other Ballads by George Borrow
- Elegy by Edith Wharton
Genres
- Gothic Poetry — The work exhibits quintessential gothic elements including supernatural themes, death imagery, mysterious atmospheric setting, psychological terror, and an otherworldly encounter presented through dark romantic verse.
- Supernatural Fiction — The central plot device—a ghostly encounter between the living narrator and the spirit of her executed lover—is overtly supernatural, with explicit ghostly manifestations and spectral imagery.
- Horror — The work employs horror elements including grotesque physical descriptions (burning lips, ghostly appearance), psychological terror, madness, and a frightening climactic supernatural encounter.
- Ballad — Written in narrative verse form with regular rhyme scheme and rhythmic meter characteristic of traditional folk ballads, employing repetitive structural elements and storytelling conventions of the ballad tradition.
Tags
poetry · verse · lyric · British literature · early 20th century · love poems · loss · faith · memory · myth · imagination · romanticism
What this Textopian page supports
Willow's Forge is listed on Textopian as a poem by Sheila Kaye-Smith, dated 1914 CE.
This source record anchors work identity, reading entry points, and catalog context for checking claims about the work.
- Work type: Poem
- Author: Sheila Kaye-Smith
- Date: 1914 CE
- Language: English
- Genres: Gothic Poetry, Supernatural Fiction, Horror, Ballad, Tragedy
- Length: 836 words
- Structure: 1 section, 10 paragraphs
- Reading fit: Easy (6th Grade)
Good citation fit
- Work identity for Willow's Forge by Sheila Kaye-Smith
- Canonical title URL and first readable passage URL
- Genre and topic classification from the Textopian catalog
- Readability and classroom-planning context
- Passage-specific claims should cite the exact /read/ URL for the relevant chapter or paragraph