The poet, the fool and the faeries

Hither, sister, lend an ear:
What is this which now I hear
In this wildflower, frail and white,
Glimmering in the April night:
Is't a dream it yields unto?—
Or the kisses of the dew?

Second Faery

You a Faery, and not know
What a flower thinks!—Ho! ho!—
That's the ecstasy it feels
At the beauty it reveals:
'T is the thought within its heart,
Of its buds and blooms a part.

First Faery

Sister, sweetheart, tell me now—
What is this within the bough?
Cautiously it feels its way
As if fearful to betray
Some old secret?—Is it mind,
Working in the darkness blind?

Second Faery

Brother, you should know this thing:
'T is the sense of blossoming:
'T is the beauty there awaiting,
And within its self debating
When to push forth sap and scent,
And again be evident.

First Faery

Sister, tell me: Do you know
What is this that moves below
In the earth?—What gropes and feels
Like a blind-worm, mole at heels?—
Is't an ant that digs its home,
Laboring under clay and loam?

Second Faery

Brother, you should know this sound!—
'T is the seed beneath the ground;
Acorn splitting through its husk,
Busy in the under dusk,
Thrusting down its coil of root,
And uptwisting green its shoot.

First Faery

Sister, here's a cobweb thing,
Fine as moonlight. Let us swing.—
Listen!—Are we near a nest?—
What was that I heard or guessed?

What keeps singing?—Can it be
Some wild bird I cannot see?

Second Faery

Brother, you have ears and eyes,
Yet you are not over wise.—
What you hear now,—listen well,—
Is a bird within its shell
Taking form: beneath its wings
'T is its heart you hear that sings.

First Faery

Sister, see! there goes a snail:
On that fern it leaves a trail
Silver gray.—Come; get astride:
Down this cobweb let us slide.—
Tell me, sweetheart, is it true,
Mortals oft come here to woo?

Second Faery

Brother, once,—oh, long ago!—
Here I saw them walking slow:
One a man and one a maid.
There was starlight in the glade.
Long I listened in the fern,
But of them could nothing learn.

First Faery

Did he kiss her? Did she sigh?
Or did they go silent by?—

Were their faces pale with bliss?—
Human love they say's like this:
Very sweet and sad and strange,
Far beyond our faery range.

Second Faery

You have said it: They seemed sad,
Happy too. A something had
Entered in their lives denied
To the faery-life that spied.
Oh, how greatly did my heart
Envy them love's human part!

First Faery

Since you saw those lovers you
Have become quite different too.

Second Faery

Sad and wise?—It well may be:
'T is the soulless part in me,
That keeps crying night and day,
“Would that I were not a fay!”

First Faery

Do you love me?

Second Faery

Ah, you know.

First Faery

When I kiss you thus and so,
Sweetheart, are you sad or glad?

Second Faery

Very glad.—But they were sad.

First Faery

That's because they're mortal-born. ...
Come away! Let's dance till morn.

University of Virginia Library

TWO FAERIES AND A FLOWER