| |
| ONE elf, I trow, is diving now | |
| For the small pearl; and one, | |
| The honey-bee for his bag he | |
| Goes chasing in the sun; | |
| And one, the knave, has pilfered from | 5 |
| The nautilus his boat, | |
| And takes his idle pastime where | |
| The water-lilies float. | |
| |
| And some the mote, for the gold of his coat, | |
| By the light of the will-o’-wisp follow; | 10 |
| And others, they trip where the alders dip | |
| Their leaves in the watery hollow; | |
| And one is with the firefly’s lamp | |
| Lighting his love to bed: | |
| Sprites, away! elf and fay, | 15 |
| And see them hither sped. | |
| |
| Haste! hither whip them with this end | |
| Of spider’s web—anon | |
| The ghost will have fled to his grave-bed, | |
| And the bat winked in the sun. | 20 |
| Haste! for the ship, till the moon dip | |
| Her horn, I did but borrow; | |
| And crowing cocks are fairy clocks, | |
| That mind us of to-morrow. | |
| |
| The summer moon will soon go down, | 25 |
| And the day-star dim her horn, | |
| O blow, then, blow, till not a wave | |
| Leap from the deep unshorn! | |
| Blow, sweep their white tops into mist, | |
| As merrily we roam, | 30 |
| Till the wide sea one bright sheet be, | |
| One sheet of fire and foam. | |
| |
| Blow, till the sea a bubble be, | |
| And toss it to the sky,— | |
| Till the sands we tread of the ocean-bed, | 35 |
| As the summer fountains dry. | |
| The upper shelves are ours, my elves, | |
| Are ours, and soon the nether | |
| With sea-flowers we shall sprinkled see, | |
| And pearls like dew-drops gather. | 40 |
| |
| The summer moon will soon go down, | |
| And then our course is up; | |
| Our frigate then the cockle-shell, | |
| Our boat the bean-flower cup. | |
| Sprites away! elf and fay, | 45 |
| From thicket, lake, and hollow; | |
| The blind bat, look! flits to his nook, | |
| And we must quickly follow. | |
| |
| Ha! here they come, skimming the foam, | |
| A gallant crew. But list! | 50 |
| I hear the crow of the cock—O blow, | |
| Till the sea-foam drift like mist. | |
| Fairies, haste! flood and blast | |
| Quickly bring, and stay | |
| The moon’s horn—look! to his nook | 55 |
| The blind bat flits—away! | |
| |
