THE FAIRY TAPER.
ABOVE me all the stars of night
Thick clustering make the darkness bright;
And in the darkling grass below
Shines out with swift, responsive glow
A tiny, steadfast, lucid ray,
Anon as swiftly dies away.
Again it comes; again it goes;
And still with equal lustre glows.
Now I bethink me 't is the light
Of some sweet fairy of the night;
A taper-flame of emerald hue
Put out by silver showers of dew!
But oh the invisible hands that bear
The fairy candlestick in air,—
To see them strike the fairy light
And lift the flame in mortal sight,
To guide her hastening lover true
The forest of the grasses through!
Thick clustering make the darkness bright;
And in the darkling grass below
Shines out with swift, responsive glow
A tiny, steadfast, lucid ray,
Anon as swiftly dies away.
Again it comes; again it goes;
And still with equal lustre glows.
Now I bethink me 't is the light
Of some sweet fairy of the night;
A taper-flame of emerald hue
Put out by silver showers of dew!
But oh the invisible hands that bear
The fairy candlestick in air,—
To see them strike the fairy light
And lift the flame in mortal sight,
To guide her hastening lover true
The forest of the grasses through!
Fall faster yet an fall you must,
Small dew that lays the fairy dust!
Oft as you quench her lovely light
This little lady of the night
Small dew that lays the fairy dust!
Oft as you quench her lovely light
This little lady of the night
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