And all the jewels of the sky

Around thy brow shall brightly beam !
And thou shalt bathe thee in the stream
That rolls its whitening foam aboon,
And ride upon the lightning's gleam,
And dance upon the orbed moon !
We'll sit within the Pleiad ring,
We'll rest on Orion's starry belt,
And I will bid my sylphs to sing

The song that makes the dew-mist melt.
Their harps are of the umber shade
That hides the blush of waking day,
And every gleamy string is made

Of silvery moonshine's lengthened ray;
And thou shalt pillow on my breast,
While heavenly breathings float around,
And, with the sylphs of ether blest,
Forget the joys of fairy ground."

XXXIII.

She was lovely and fair to see,
And the elfin's heart beat fitfully;
But lovelier far, and still more fair,
The earthly form imprinted there.
Naught he saw in the heavens above
Was half so dear as his mortal love;
For he thought upon her looks so meek,

And he thought of the light flush on her cheek.

Never again might he bask and lie

On that sweet cheek and moonlight-eye;

But in his dreams her form to see,

To clasp her in his revery,

To think upon his virgin-bride,

Was worth all heaven, and earth beside.

XXXIV.

“Lady,” he cried, "I have sworn to-night, On the word of a fairy knight,

To do my sentence-task aright;
My honor scarce is free from stain-
I may not soil its snows again;
Betide me weal, betide me wo,

Its mandate must be answered now.'
Her bosom heaved with many a sigh,
The tear was in her drooping eye;
But she led him to the palace-gate,

And called the sylphs who hovered there, And bade them fly and bring him straight, Of clouds condensed, a sable car.

With charm and spell she blessed it there,
From all the fiends of upper air;
Then round him cast the shadowy shroud,
And tied his steed behind the cloud;
And pressed his hand as she bade him fly
Far to the verge of the northern sky,
For by its wan and wavering light
There was a star would fall to-night.

XXXV.

Borne afar on the wings of the blast,
Northward away, he speeds him fast,
And his courser follows the cloudy wain
Till the hoof-strokes fall like pattering rain.
The clouds roll backward as he flies;
Each flickering star behind him lies,
And he has reached the northern plain,
And backed his fire-fly steed again,
Ready to follow in its flight
The streaming of the rocket-light.

XXXVI.

The star is yet in the vault of heaven,
But it rocks in the summer gale;

And now 'tis fitful and uneven,

And now 'tis deadly pale;

And now 'tis wrapped in sulphur-smoke,
And quenched is its rayless beam;
And now with a rattling thunder-stroke
It bursts in flash and flame.

As swift as the glance of the arrowy lance
That the storm-spirit flings from high,
The star-shot flew o'er the welkin blue,
As it fell from the sheeted sky.

As swift as the wind in its train behind
The elfin gallops along :

The fiends of the cloud are bellowing loud,
But the sylphid charm is strong;

He gallops unhurt in the shower of fire,
While the cloud-fiends fly from the blaze;
He watches each flake till its sparks expire,
And rides in the light of its rays.

But he drove his steed to the lightning's speed,
And caught a glimmering spark;

Then wheeled around to the fairy ground,
And sped through the midnight dark.

Ouphe and goblin ! imp and sprite !

Elf of eve! and starry fay!
Ye that love the moon's soft light,
Hither-hither wend your way;
Twine ye in a jocund ring,

Sing and trip it merrily,

Hand to hand, and wing to wing,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

Hail the wanderer again

*

With dance and song, and lute and lyre; Pure his wing and strong his chain,

And doubly bright his fairy fire.

Twine ye in an airy round,

Brush the dew and print the lea; Skip and gambol, hop and bound,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

The beetle guards our holy ground,
He flies about the haunted place,
And if mortal there be found,

He hums in his ears and flaps his face;
The leaf-harp sounds our roundelay,
The owlet's eyes our lanterns be;
Thus we sing, and dance, and play,
Round the wild witch-hazel tree.

But, hark! from tower on tree-top high,
The sentry-elf his call has made;
A streak is in the eastern sky,

Shapes of moonlight! flit and fade!
The hill-tops gleam in Morning's spring,
The sky-lark shakes his dappled wing,
The day-glimpse glimmers on the lawn,
The cock has crowed, and the fays are gone.

JOSEPH RODMAN Drake.

E

Fancy.

VER let the Fancy roam;

Pleasure never is at home:

At a touch sweet Pleasure melteth

Like to bubbles when rain pelteth;

Then let winged Fancy wander

Through the thought still spread beyond her;

Open wide the mind's cage-door

She'll dart forth, and cloudward soar.

O sweet Fancy! let her loose!
Summer's joys are spoilt by use,
And the enjoying of the Spring
Fades as does its blossoming.
Autumn's red-lipped fruitage too,
Blushing through the mist and dew,
Cloys with tasting. What do then?
Sit thee by the ingle, when

The sear faggot blazes bright,
Spirit of a winter's night;

When the soundless earth is muffled,
And the caked snow is shuffled

From the ploughboy's heavy shoon ;
When the Night doth meet the Noon
In a dark conspiracy

To banish Even from her sky.

Sit thee there, and send abroad,
With a mind self-overawed,

Fancy, high-commissioned :-send her!
She has vassals to attend her;
She will bring, in spite of frost,
Beauties that the earth hath lost;
She will bring thee all together,
All delights of summer weather;
All the buds and bells of May,
From dewy sward or thorny spray;
All the heaped autumn's wealth ;-
With a still, mysterious stealth;
She will mix these pleasures up
Like three fit wines in a cup,

And thou shalt quaff it,—thou shalt hear
Distant harvest-carols clear—

Rustle of the reaped corn;

Sweet birds antheming the morn;

And, in the same moment-hark!

'Tis the early April lark,—
Or the rooks, with busy caw,
Foraging for sticks and straw.
Thou shalt, at one glance, behold
The daisy and the marigold;
White-plumed lilies, and the first
Hedge-grown primrose that hath burst;
Shaded hyacinth, alway

Sapphire queen of the mid-May;
And every leaf, and every flower
Pearled with the self-same shower.