University of Virginia Library

FOR FAY.

Fairy! Fairy! fair and fine,
Will you be my Valentine?
Little sprite of flame and dew,
Fairy fingers fashioned you!
Spun their flax for shining hair,
Sun-lit snow for forehead fair;
Painted soft each crimson lip
With the rose-dew that they sip;
Set the pinkness of a shell
On those rounded cheeks to dwell;
Drew from some pure tiny lake
Shadows water-spiders make,
Crystal clear and diamond bright,
For those eyes of dauntless light,
Tempered with a fairy tear
Lest their brightness shine too clear;
And for that sweet sudden smiling,
Every hardest heart beguiling,
Caught the splendor of the sun,
When his day-long race is run,
And the space 'twixt cloud and hills
All his rapid glory fills.
Ah! my love, my sweet, my baby,
Did the fairies give thee, maybe,
All these gifts, and add the smart
Of a loving human heart,
Lest so many gracious things
Should too early give thee wings?
Fairy! Fairy! fair and fine,
Be my darling Valentine!