Analysis of The maiden fair on horseback rides

The maiden fair on horseback rides
Through forest glen where danger lies
Around the bend she guides the mare
While rapist winds tear through her hair

A dream pervades her every thought
This very night her mind it caught
And even though her sleep is done
Its essence lives to drive her on

A mind awash in image dread
Of her perspective wedding bed
Herself beside a bloodless ghoul
Who speaks to her intentions cruel

She wakes to scream into the night
A witness to this frightful sight
And quickly to the door she tread
Before the ghoul upon her fed

Confused she grabbed the mare and flies
His ghostly image at her side
And mindless of the horse’s speed
She tries to wrest the demon freed

Although the moon illumes the sky
The trees grow denser by and by
Till darkness falls upon her soul
To cast her in her final dole

Despaired she sets her mind to pray
For God to turn the fiend away
But in the course of proffered vow
Her chest does strike against a bow

Thus from the saddle she is thrown
Her head to hit upon a stone
And ere she opens up her eyes
The apparition bleeds her dry

So in this manner they are tied
The beast and his reluctant bride
Whose beauty caught a demon’s eye
One yesteryear of days gone by