University of Virginia Library

A FAERY BURIAL

Scene: Midsummer Night; a wooded and moonlit hollow thro' which foams and falls a rocky and ferny stream.
First Faery
Bring the firefly for to light
Lanterns of our funeral rite;
Swing their glimmer to and fro
So that Faeryland may know
That a faerymaid lies low
As a flower;
One who tripped it but ago
Merrily, oh, merrily,
Hour on hour,
In the moonlight's primrose glow,
On the hilltop, on the lea,
In the hollow,
Light of heart as bird or bee:
Who no more on hill or shore
Now shall trip it merrily,
In the starlight and the moon
To the cricket's creaking tune.
Faeries, follow!
O-hey! O-hey!
Elf and fay,
Come away, come away!
Follow, faeries, follow!

Second Faery
Bring the glowworm with its torch
For to light our funeral march;
Bring the beetle with his drone
For to drowsily intone
Pixy grief and pixy moan:
From the thicket
Bring the cricket,
Who beneath a hollow stone
Maketh sorrow all alone:
Let him make for her a rhyme,
To which all our thoughts shall chime,
Sadly chime,
In the hollow;
While the flowers all keep time,
Mournful time.—
Faeries, follow!
Eglantine,
And Columbine,
Troop in line!
Follow, faeries, follow!

Third Faery
Bring the harebell, hollow blue,
Clappered with a bead of dew;
Bring the wild-bean and the pea,
Little bells of fragrancy,
Let them ring a melody;
Hang them o'er us
On a web of witchery;
They her requiem shall be;
Let them swing there solemnly,
Solemnly;
Toll in chorus
Dirges for her lying here,
Lying here,
In the hollow;
Who no more shall lean her ear
To a flower; there to hear
Faery music, crystal clear
In its heart of honey-cheer.
Bear her now away from here
On a petal for her bier:
Faeries, follow!
Larkspur, Phlox,
From the rocks
Twinkle down with loosened locks!—
Follow, faeries, follow.

Fourth Faery
Close her tiny coffin up,
Fashioned from an acorn-cup;
Dig her grave where she was born
Underneath the elfin thorn.—
Ah, that fay should die forlorn!
Dawn should startle
Her: who stopped and stayed till morn
Gazing on a mortal-born
Youth, whose hair was gold as corn,
Who returned her love with scorn—
Foolish mortal!
He, too, now shall die forlorn,
Love forlorn.—
Would that she had turned ere day
From the hollow!
Had the red cock, far away,
Crowed to warn her, then a ray
Had not pierced her heart, sweet fay!
Cruel morning so to slay!
Faeries, follow!
Elf and sprite,
Down the night,
Follow, faeries, follow!

All Four Faeries
Let the hornet and the bee
Sent'nel her virginity:
Let the wasp and dragonfly
Guard the spot where she doth lie,
Where the hollow waters sigh
And the glimmering winds go by,
Bearing wild the owlet's cry.—
None must know where she doth lie,
None must know that faeries die!—
Leave no token
Here to draw a human eye:
None must know that faeries die.—
Leave unbroken
Cups of moss and ferns and flowers,
Wilding flowers,
In the hollow;
Naught must point to what was ours,
Faerymaid who once was ours.—
Leave her now to moon and showers,
That shall soon transmute her powers. ...
Come away!
Faeries, follow!
Come away!
The east grows gray!—
Leave her here to sleep alway:
Come away!'t is break of day!
Follow, faeries, follow!