Lie very still, love, where I fold
You close: the clocks strike fairy-time.
The thin, sweet tinkle of their chime
Is like a thread of gold
Woven through the heart of night
For our delight.
And following the elfin call
Faint noises, half-tones, rise and fall—
The whirr and flit of fairy wings
Pass and re-pass,
And we can hear among the grass
Musicians tune their buzzing strings,
And small feet tapping on the ground
The measures of a fairy round.
Out of the roses stream wee elves,
Sweet peas are fairies in themselves,
And myriad water-sprites
From dreaming water-lilies rise,
Such glistening, ephemeral mites,
Flashing like spray across our eyes.
Watch how all whirl, dissolve, and mix
Again, foot it so daintily,
Play such quaint, pretty tricks—
Some on wild moths go riding by,
Breaking them in with rein and bit
Of gossamer: some lurk and flit,
Making pretence at hide and-seek
Behind the daisies, laugh and peek
Like children: disregarding rules,
Play leap-frog with the spotted stools
Of fungus, each night newly-sprung
For them to sport among ...
Suddenly all grow hushed with awe—
Come closer, dear!
The voice of one who broke the law
Of Fairyland sounds harsh and near,
And overhead a dark shape flies.
Bound in a hollow oak by day
He, like the wizard Merlin, lies,
But is condemned to pass the night
In restless flight
Until the dawn looms grey....
There! he has passed. And in a trice
They all forget him, joining hands
Once more in glittering, laughing bands,
Employing every strange device
And twist and twirl
And mazy whirl
To build their graceful, freakish dance—
Like moonbeam motes they glide and glance
Under the starshine. Seize this chance
Of watching them. To-morrow we
No trace shall see
Of all their revels save—who knows?—
A broken toadstool, or the spun
Fine silken spider's web undone,
The shattered petals of a rose
Tom in the careless frolic, or
The bloom brushed from some untamed wing
Of moth, and on their dancing-floor
Staining the grass a bright green ring.
Lie close, and let us look our fill
To-night. Be very still.