 | Young Maids & Old China |  |
STORY-LAND.
Half-buried she sits in the big arm-chair,
But I ween that her thoughts are otherwhere;
Some story-book, like a magic wand,
Has carried her far into Fairy-land.
But I ween that her thoughts are otherwhere;
Some story-book, like a magic wand,
Has carried her far into Fairy-land.
And now she is wandering underground
Thro' the jewelled trees that Aladdin found;
Or wondering, Would it have have been her duty
To have wedded that dreadful Beast, like Beauty?
Thro' the jewelled trees that Aladdin found;
Or wondering, Would it have have been her duty
To have wedded that dreadful Beast, like Beauty?
Or haply she hears the wind and rain
Beat at the cottage window-pane,
While dear Undine, in new delight,
Sits at the feet of the stranger knight.
Beat at the cottage window-pane,
While dear Undine, in new delight,
Sits at the feet of the stranger knight.
Or she watches, down the perilous cord,
The captive maid escape from ward,
And flit through the daisies dewy-wet,
That were dark by the feet of Nicolette.
The captive maid escape from ward,
And flit through the daisies dewy-wet,
That were dark by the feet of Nicolette.
Chide not the maiden who loves to stray
Awhile from the world of every-day,
And wander in lands of wilder flowers,
And facts less matter-of-fact than ours!
Awhile from the world of every-day,
And wander in lands of wilder flowers,
And facts less matter-of-fact than ours!
There lies but a gauzy veil between
The world of sense and the world unseen:
And blest are the eyes when the viewiess veil
Can be rent by the spell of a Fairy tale.
The world of sense and the world unseen:
And blest are the eyes when the viewiess veil
Can be rent by the spell of a Fairy tale.
| Young Maids & Old China | |