The Fairies.
The wavelets plash on the lonely strand,1
In the light of the moon’s mild beams ;2
A fair knight rests on the silvery sand,3
Begirt with happy dreams.4
The beautiful fairies, fairy-bedight,5
Rise out of the great sea’s deeps ;6
They softly draw near to the youthful knight,7
And they think that he really sleeps.8
Then, one with curious finger feels9
The feather that deck his bonnet ;10
Another close to his shoulder-knot steals,11
And plays with the chain upon it.12
A third one laughs, and with artful hand13
Unsheathes the sword from its keeper,14
And, leaning against the glittering brand,15
She watches, well-pleased, the sleeper.16
A fourth goes flutt’ring about and above,17
And sighs from her little bosom :18
" Ah, me ! that I were thy true, true love,19
Thou beautiful human blossom ! "20
A knight leans against a rock on a shore next to a body of water. His eyes are closed
and his body appears to be limp. A crowd
of female fairies surround the knight. Some fairies touch the mans limbs; others pray
or stand in a row behind him. One fairy stands
in the foreground facing the knight. She sticks his sword into the ground and leans
her chin upon the pommel. 1/2 page contained
within a single-ruled border. The top of the border is curved.
A fifth the knight’s fair fingers clasp’d,21
Fill’d with love’s longing blisses ;22
A sixth plays coy for awhile, but at last23
His lips and cheeks she kisses.24
The knight is crafty, nor thinks he soon25
To open his eyelids wary,26
But lies quite still, to be kiss’d in the moon27
By fairy after fairy.28