PART II.

Ask not the Bard to lift the veil

That hides the Fairy's bridal bower;

If thou art young, go seek the glade,

And win thyself some fairy maid;

And rosy lips shall tell the tale

In some enchanted hour.

“Farewell!” as by the greenwood tree,

The Fairy clasp'd the Mortal's hand —

“Our laws forbid thee to delay —

Not ours the life of every day!—

And Man, alas! may rarely be

The Guest of Fairy-land.

“Back to thy Prince's halls depart,

The stateliest of his stately train:

Henceforth thy wish shall be thy mine —

Each toy that gold can purchase, thine —

A fairy's coffers are the heart

A mortal cannot drain.”

“Talk not of wealth — that dream is o'er!—

These sunny looks be all my gold!”

“Nay! if in courts thy thoughts can stray

Along the fairy-forest way,

Wish but to see thy bride once more —

Thy bride thou shalt behold.

“Yet hear the law on which must rest

Thy union with thine elfin bride;

If ever by a word — a tone —

Thou mak'st our tender secret known,

The spell will vanish from thy breast —

The Fairy from thy side.

“If thou but boast to mortal ear

The meanest charm thou find'st in me,

If” — here his lips the sweet lips seal,

Low-murmuring, “Love can ne'er reveal —

It cannot breathe to mortal ear

The charms it finds in thee!”