More than a decade ago, I wrote on my blog of discovering a page from some time earlier containing two stanzas and two additional lines of an unfinished poem. Over the years, I have returned to that fragment multiple times without feeling capable of expanding it into a completed whole.

On December 20, I was preparing to read at Open Mic Night at Sulfur Books. Since the reading was so close to Christmas, I planned to read “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas.” But I also considered whether I might finish my 2013 fragment (only titled “?” in the blog post) in time for the six o’clock reading.

I knew the maiden of the poem had to be pregnant, and death seemed the most likely fate for such a troubled girl of centuries past. These realizations gave direction for the poem, and the archaic language of the first two stanzas suggested using words as old as possible. The first two existing stanzas established a rhyme scheme and a meter of 4-3-4-4 feet. Determination and a self-imposed deadline allowed me to complete the poem  in an afternoon. I was reasonably satisfied with the result, thought I was somewhat uncomfortable with half-a-dozen word choices.

Having written six full stanzas, I pondered whether the sixth stanza should conclude the poem or whether a final stanza offering a kind of moral to the story was called for. Although the death of the maiden offered a dramatic ending, the emphasis on the narrator’s inability to offer aid convinced me to add the last stanza, even at the risk of being too didactic.

I did not long consider the title. Clearly,“?” was no longer relevant. As I was working to finish the poem, “Encounter” occurred to me, and it immediately seemed to be the perfect title.

Once the poem was finished, I made a few word substitutions here and there. For example, “heart’s desire,” in stanza four, became “wants or needs.” A final edit on 1/7/2025 involved several punctuation changes. I read the revised poem at the 1/17/2025 Open Mic Night.

— LED, 12/20/2024, rev. 1/17/2025

My objective in completing this poem was to develop something that had the feel of a very old ballad. Thinking about this, I asked myself if I shouldn’t try to set it to music. Since I was aiming for a seemingly ancient effect, I decided to avoid a modern-sounding melody in favor of using a modal scale.

Once I had a reasonable melody line in hand, I thought of trying to obtain a four-part arrangement. This offered two difficulties. First, I have no talent for making such an arrangement. Then, I thought that my “ancient” melody should perhaps be sung with guitar or mandolin. On such an instrument, a player could embellish the melody into something more pleasing. In any case, I was hardly looking for a choral piece.

I then had another idea: an ancient melody sung by two female singers. (Sisters would be ideal.) This led to the music below. Here is a piano version of the music.

— LED, 1/31/2025