AND A LONG WAY OFF HE SAW FAIRYLAND

I lived once with fairies,

( And I know they're true fairies! )

One lifts laughing eyes

In a way I most admire.

Truth goes by contraries,

For you do n't know they're fairies

Till there is n't any firelight,

Nor song beside the fire.

One fairy's small to hold,

And her hair is fairy gold.

One's a feminine fairy

With unusual address.

One fairy's just Jim.

You just look and love him,

With his nonsense and his laugh

And his sturdy steadfastness.

And the fairy queen I knew

Has eyes that are blue,

Has moods that are decided,

And courage that denies

It is ever brave at all.

She mends them when they fall;

She tends the little fairies

In absurd, delightful wise.

They bring her thoughts like birds

And very funny words

And mountainous decisions

And things to make you cry.

But, after all, it's airy

In the house of a fairy,

With a face like that to sob to

And those arms close by.

I lived once with a fairy.

I was wild and contrary.

I'm still wild and contrary.

But her heart's a heart for two.

She sees rooms of starry graces,

Kind firelight on our faces,

And a watch on sleeping fairies,

And the fairy home come true.

Once again, with gentle evening

And the dreaming trees, come true.