Elfin Dancer

Beneath unfathomable seas,

Deeper than dreams,

Sounder than sleep,

Beyond the magic of the trees

Where never light nor gladness gleams,

Where neither life nor love can glow;

There, you lie low:

Frozen, encased in crystal shape,

Enwrapped, enmeshed by claws that gape;

And not until you start from sleep

May you be drawn from cavern deep,

And never till the earth has quaked

Can you from fairy trance be waked.

You dance!

You dance on tiptoe!

Up from the grave of withered fears,

The earth wind, rushing in your ears,

Spirit of joy and youth, most fair,

Crowned by your wonder-loosened hair;

You dance!

You dance on tiptoe!

The grass just bending at your feet,

The earth untouched, as fairy-fleet

Onward you go,

Upward you flow,

Up through the leaves, a spiral flame,

A tongue of fire, with arrow-aim,

Whose mystic essence inter-blending

Flows in a torrent never ending;

Through that strange tree whose blossoms pale

Wreathe, lily-like, a bridal veil!

( Mysterious tree, whose knotted base

Scarce bears the ardour of your chase! )

Emerging thence by rapture swayed

You rise from leafy ambuscade

Poised in the ether, to and fro,

One moment, hesitating — so —

Flashing from elfin eyes one glance

Still on tiptoe

You dance!

You dance!

Oh! earth-born spirit!

Swift wonder child of flame;

The essence of your being,

Dull human eyes, unseeing,

Can never hope to tame;

You may be worshipped from afar!

By faith, by hope, we see the star

From whence, you came:

Fleet as the wind amongst the hills

Your spirit listeth as it wills;

Oh Pagan huntress, chaste and wild,

You dwell amongst us, undefiled!

But if we falter at your door

At one false step your shrine, before

One discord note, one word awry

You vanish straight from human eye:

The earth unfolds herself to seize,

Your laughter echoes in the trees;

And you are known no more.