THE FAIRY GOLDSMITH

Here's a wonderful thing,

A humming-bird's wing

In hammered gold,

And store well chosen

Of snowflakes frozen

In crystal cold.

Black onyx cherries

And mistletoe berries

Of chrysoprase,

Jade buds, tight shut,

All carven and cut

In intricate ways.

Here, if you please

Are little gilt bees

In amber drops

Which look like honey,

Translucent and sunny,

From clover-tops.

Here's an elfin girl

Of mother-of-pearl

And moonshine made,

With tortoise-shell hair

Both dusky and fair

In its light and shade.

Here's lacquer laid thin,

Like a scarlet skin

On an ivory fruit;

And a filigree frost

Of frail notes lost

From a fairy lute.

Here's a turquoise chain

Of sun-shower rain

To wear if you wish;

And glimmering green

With aquamarine,

A silvery fish.

Here are pearls all strung

On a thread among

Pretty pink shells;

And bubbles blown

From the opal stone

Which ring like bells.

Touch them and take them,

But do not break them!

Beneath your hand

They will wither like foam

If you carry them home

Out of fairy-land.

O, they never can last

Though you hide them fast

From moth and from rust;

In your monstrous day

They will crumble away

Into quicksilver dust.