And fight for the black sloe-berries,
For soulless a faery dies,
As a leaf that is old, and withered, and cold,
When the wintry vapours rise.
Re-enter Naschina.
Naschina. I plucked her backwards by her dress of green.
To question her—oh no, I did not fear,
Because St. Joseph's image hangeth here
Upon my necklace. But the goblin queen
Faded and vanished, nothing now is seen,
Saving a green frog dead upon the grass.
As figures moving mirrored in a glass,
The singing shepherds, too, have passed away.
O Arcady, O Arcady, this day
A deal of evil and of change hath crossed
Thy peace. Ah, now I'll wake these sleepers, lost
And woe-begone. For them no evil day!
To Almintor. O wake! wake! wake! for soft as a bee sips
The faery flower lies upon thy lips.
Almintor. I slept, 'twas sultry, and scarce circling shook
The falling hawthorn bloom. By mere and brook
The otters dreaming lay.
Naschina.Aye!
Behold the hapless sleepers standing by.
I will dissolve away the faeries' guile;
So be thou still, dear heart, a little while!
(To the Second Sleeper.)
Old warrior, wake! for soft as a bee sips,
The faery blossom lies upon thy lips.
Sleeper. Have I slept long?
Naschina.Long years.
The Sleeper.With hungry heart
Doth still the Wanderer rove? With all his ships
I saw him from sad Dido's shores depart,
Enamoured of the waves' impetuous lips.
Naschina. Those twain are dust. Wake! Light as a bee sips
The faery blossom lies upon thy lips;
Seafarer, wake!
Third Sleeper.Was my sleep long?
Naschina.Long years.
The Sleeper. A rover I, who come from where men's ears
Love storm; and stained with mist the new moons flare.
Doth still the Man whom each stern rover fears,
The austere Arthur, rule from Uther's chair?
Naschina. He is long dead.
Wake! soft as a bee sips
The goblin flower lieth on thy lips.
Fourth Sleeper. Was my sleep long, oh, youth?
Naschina.Long, long and deep.
The Sleeper. As here I came I saw god Pan. He played
An oaten pipe unto a listening fawn,
Whose insolent eyes unused to tears would weep.
Doth he still dwell within the woody shade,
And rule the shadows of the eve and dawn?
Naschina. Nay, he is gone. Wake! wake! as a bee sips
The faery blossom broods upon thy lips.
Sleeper, awake!
Fifth Sleeper.How long my sleep?
Naschina.Unnumbered
The years of goblin sleep.
The Sleeper.Ah! while I slumbered,
How have the years in Troia flown away?
Are still the Achaians' tented chiefs at bay?
Where rise the walls majestical above
The plain, a little fair-haired maid I love.
The Sleepers all together. She is long ages dust.
The Sleeper.Ah, woe is me!
First Sleeper. Youth, here will we abide, and be thou king
Of this lake-nurtured isle!
Naschina.Let thy king be
Yon archer, he who hath the halcyon's wing
As flaming minstrel-word upon his crest.
All the Sleepers. Clear-browed Arcadian, thou shalt be our king!
Naschina. O, my Almintor, noble was thy quest;
Yea, noble and most knightly hath it been.
All the Sleepers. Clear-browed Arcadian, thou shalt be our king!
Almintor. Until we die within the charmed ring
Of these star-shuddering skies, you are the queen.
The End.
