MOON FAIRIES

The moon, a circle of gold,

O'er the crowded housetops rolled,

And peeped in an attic, where,

‘ Mid sordid things and bare,

A sick child lay and gazed

At a road to the far-away,

A road he followed, mazed,

That grew from a moonbeam-ray,

A road of light that led

From the foot of his garret-bed

Out of that room of hate,

Where Poverty slept by his mate,

Sickness — out of the street,

Into a wonderland,

Where a voice called, far and sweet,

“Come, follow our Fairy band!”

A purple shadow, sprinkled

With golden star-dust, twinkled

Suddenly into the room

Out of the winter gloom:

And it wore a face to him

Of a dream he'd dreamed: a form

Of Joy, whose face was dim,

Yet bright with a magic charm.

And the shadow seemed to trail,

Sounds that were green and frail:

Dew-dripples; notes that fell

Like drops in a ferny dell;

A whispered lisp and stir,

Like winds among the leaves,

Blent with a cricket-chirr,

And coo of a dove that grieves.

And the Elfin bore on its back

A little faery pack

Of forest scents: of loam

And mossy sounds of foam;

And of its contents breathed

As might a clod of ground

Feeling a bud unsheathed

There in its womb profound.

And the shadow smiled and gazed

At the child; then softly raised

Its arms and seemed to grow

To a tree in the attic low:

And from its glimmering hands

Shook emerald seeds of dreams,

From which grew fairy bands,

Like firefly motes and gleams.

The child had seen them before

In his dreams of Fairy lore:

The Elves, each with a light

To guide his feet a-right,

Out of this world to a world

Where Magic built him towers,

And Fable old, unfurled, flags like wonderful flowers.

And the child, who knew this, smiled,

And rose, a different child:

No more he knew of pain,

Or fear of heart and brain.—

At Poverty there that slept

He never even glanced,

But into the moon-road stept,

And out of the garret danced.

Out of the earthly gloom,

Out of the sordid room,

Out, on a moonbeam ray!—

Now at last to play

There with comrades found!

Children of the moon,

There on faery ground,

Where none would find him soon!