Across an extensive, moonlit labyrinth
Intricate trials must be faced and won
Innumerable traps hidden in hedges and plinths
All to prove that you are my sun

Stepping over immobile skeletons
Past suitors who failed before me
My darling, they are irrelevant
For I shall gift you love as endless as the sea

Navigating through winding paths
Bones aching, muscles burning
Focusing on the memory of your laughs
You are worth a thousand years of yearning

Unraveling countless rhymed riddles
Bludgeoning through numerous menacing marble statues
With a song in my heart, on my lips: a whistle
These perils are inconsequential compared to your virtues

Victorious as I draw nearer
One final battle and I will be in your presence
Your silhouette in your tower window becomes clearer
Soon I will drink in your essence

The ground thunders beneath my feet
A Goliath reveals itself with fists as giant as my head
He sneers, “You look good enough to eat.”
I brace my sword, this monster shall not be fed

The beast lands a flurry of blows
Knocking me back, keeping me on my toes
He dances with fists and I a sword, we are alike
Yet I am the one who gets the final lethal strike

I pass across a clearing in the hedgerow
In mere moments you will no longer be alone
The path, illuminated by your window
Nothing between us now but space and stone

I come upon your door-less tower
Thick, thorned vines reach the top of the pillar
In the face of adversity, I dare not cower
In the twinkling of an eye, I will be your winner

Thorns pierce my hands as I make my way to you
Yet I am too enamoured to feel any pain
I bolster myself upward and through
Just as it begins to lightly rain

I tap gently on the glass
I see you turn from shadow to colour
Your eyes are ever so blue, my love, I am here at last
You open the window with a swift vigour

I enter and extend my arms outwards
You rush into the comfort of my embrace
With a low chuckle, I stumble backwards
Suddenly I feel the warmth of tears streaming down your face

I feel your grip tighten around my waist
Drawing me closer to you, near
In turn, I stroke your hair at a slow pace
And whisper into your ear

“Rest now my love for I am here,
To protect you from all the monsters you fear
Your desolate days are now over
For I am your shield and you, my four-leaf clover.”