The Culprit Fay Poem Rhyme Scheme and Analysis

Rhyme Scheme: ABABCD E FF GGFFAA FFHHIJ KAKALFLLFLMAMA NNOO P PNNNQQ RR C CFSFSTFTFFFFF UUVVFFFFEEFFEQEQ WWN N FXFXEOYO HZHZ F F FFMMNNFFA2A2 EE FFB2B2AVC2 C2 FFF C2 D2QD2 HH E2E2ZF2QQ C2 NANA S SG2G2IIH2FI2FSJ2K2K2 FJFJFL2FL2FF KKFC2FC2M2M2RRFF C2 FFFFEFEF C2 C2C2FFL2L2FFVVC2C2N2 N2QQ Q L2L2DDB2C2B2C2YFYFFF O2D2P2Q2ZZFF Q ZZFFFFLLC2C2OO N2N2ZFZZFF Q FFFFAVFFN2N2 Q FFE2FE2FFF Q FNFNAVFFFZFZFFM2M2 C2 QQVFAFKKJJFFNFNF C2 QQA2A2ZZFFFUU C2 ZFZFFZFZFEFEEFZZ C2 NFNFZZN2N2 C2 FFC2C2QFQFL2FL2FFVFA Q EEFFC2C2ZZR2R2FFQQ SSC2C2ZZ Q ZZFFC2C2ZZFFFFFFE2E2 Q EEQQZZFFFYFYFFFFZDZZ DQFQFEE Q FFFFFFS2FS2FFZZF FYT2 Q FFEEFFFFFC2FC2 C2 FFFFFFFFFZFZFFFF C2 FU2FV2C2ZC2ZZZZZFFH2 H2ZZ C2 FFFFFE2FE2ZFZFKKZZ C2 FZFZC2FC2FAAC2C2FFFF A2 KKZKZDFDFFFFFFFF C2 C2C2EEQQK2K2 C2C2FF Q FFFZZA QQFEFE2EEFFQQFF Q FFZZC2C2ZZFF Q ZR2ZR2OKOW2C2QFQFL2F L2SC2J2C2FHFH FQFQDC2DC2 ZJ2ZSFC2FC2 FC2FC2C2C2C2C2 QFQFDDZZ

My visual orbs are purged from film and lo	A
Instead of Anster's turnip bearing vales	B
I see old fairy land's miraculous show	A
Her trees of tinsel kissed by freakish gales	B
Her Ouphs that cloaked in leaf gold skim the breeze	C
And fairies swarming	D
	-
	-
Tennant's Anster Fair	E
	-
I	-
	-
'Tis the middle watch of a summer's night	F
The earth is dark but the heavens are bright	F
Nought is seen in the vault on high	-
But the moon and the stars and the cloudless sky	-
And the flood which rolls its milky hue	G
A river of light on the welkin blue	G
The moon looks down on old Cronest	F
She mellows the shades on his shaggy breast	F
And seems his huge gray form to throw	A
In a sliver cone on the wave below	A
	-
His sides are broken by spots of shade	F
By the walnut bough and the cedar made	F
And through their clustering branches dark	H
Glimmers and dies the fire fly's spark	H
Like starry twinkles that momently break	I
Through the rifts of the gathering tempest's rack	J
	-
II	-
	-
The stars are on the moving stream	K
And fling as its ripples gently flow	A
A burnished length of wavy beam	K
In an eel like spiral line below	A
The winds are whist and the owl is still	L
The bat in the shelvy rock is hid	F
And nought is heard on the lonely hill	L
But the cricket's chirp and the answer shrill	L
Of the gauze winged katy did	F
And the plaint of the wailing whip poor will	L
Who moans unseen and ceaseless sings	M
Ever a note of wail and wo	A
Till morning spreads her rosy wings	M
And earth and sky in her glances glow	A
	-
III	-
	-
'Tis the hour of fairy ban and spell	N
The wood tick has kept the minutes well	N
He has counted them all with click and stroke	O
Deep in the heart of the mountain oak	O
And he has awakened the sentry elve	-
Who sleeps with him in the haunted tree	P
To bid him ring the hour of twelve	-
And call the fays to their revelry	P
Twelve small strokes on his tinkling bell	N
'Twas made of the white snail's pearly shell	N
Midnight comes and all is well	N
Hither hither wing your way	Q
'Tis the dawn of the fairy day	Q
	-
IV	-
	-
They come from beds of lichen green	R
They creep from the mullen's velvet screen	R
Some on the backs of beetles fly	-
From the silver tops of moon touched trees	C
Where they swung in their cobweb hammocks high	-
And rock'd about in the evening breeze	C
Some from the hum bird's downy nest	F
They had driven him out by elfin power	S
And pillowed on plumes of his rainbow breast	F
Had slumbered there till the charmed hour	S
Some had lain in the scoop of the rock	T
With glittering ising stars inlaid	F
And some had opened the four o'clock	T
And stole within its purple shade	F
And now they throng the moonlight glade	F
Above below on every side	F
Their little minim forms arrayed	F
In the tricksy pomp of fairy pride	F
	-
V	-
	-
They come not now to print the lea	-
In freak and dance around the tree	-
Or at the mushroom board to sup	U
And drink the dew from the buttercup	U
A scene of sorrow waits them now	V
For an Ouphe has broken his vestal vow	V
He has loved an earthly maid	F
And left for her his woodland shade	F
He has lain upon her lip of dew	F
And sunned him in her eye of blue	F
Fann'd her cheek with his wing of air	E
Played in the ringlets of her hair	E
And nestling on her snowy breast	F
Forgot the lily king's behest	F
For this the shadowy tribes of air	E
To the elfin court must haste away	Q
And now they stand expectant there	E
To hear the doom of the Culprit Fay	Q
	-
VI	-
	-
The throne was reared upon the grass	W
Of spice wood and of sassafras	W
On pillars of mottled tortoise shell	N
Hung the burnished canopy	-
And o'er it gorgeous curtains fell	N
Of the tulip's crimson drapery	-
The monarch sat on his judgment seat	F
On his brow the crown imperial shone	X
The prisoner Fay was at his feet	F
And his peers were ranged around the throne	X
He waved his sceptre in the air	E
He looked around and calmly spoke	O
His brow was grave and his eye severe	Y
But his voice in a softened accent broke	O
	-
VII	-
	-
Fairy Fairy list and mark	H
Thou hast broke thine elfin chain	Z
Thy flame wood lamp is quenched and dark	H
And thy wings are dyed with a deadly stain	Z
Thou hast sullied thine elfin purity	-
In the glance of a mortal maiden's eye	-
Thou hast scorned our dread decree	-
And thou shouldst pay the forfeit high	-
But well I know her sinless mind	F
Is pure as the angel forms above	-
Gentle and meek and chaste and kind	F
Such as a spirit well might love	-
Fairy had she spot or taint	F
Bitter had been thy punishment	F
Tied to the hornet's shardy wings	M
Tossed on the pricks of nettles' stings	M
Or seven long ages doomed to dwell	N
With the lazy worm in the walnut shell	N
Or every night to writhe and bleed	F
Beneath the tread of the centipede	F
Or bound in a cobweb dungeon dim	A2
Your jailer a spider huge and grim	A2
Amid the carrion bodies to lie	-
Of the worm and the bug and the murdered fly	-
These it had been your lot to bear	E
Had a stain been found on the earthly fair	E
Now list and mark our mild decree	-
Fairy this your doom must be	-
	-
VIII	-
	-
Thou shalt seek the beach of sand	F
Where the water bounds the elfin land	F
Thou shalt watch the oozy brine	B2
Till the sturgeon leaps in the bright moonshine	B2
Then dart the glistening arch below	A
And catch a drop from his silver bow	V
The water sprites will wield their arms	C2
And dash around with roar and rave	-
And vain are the woodland spirits' charms	C2
They are the imps that rule the wave	-
Yet trust thee in thy single might	F
If thy heart be pure and thy spirit right	F
Thou shalt win the warlock fight	F
	-
IX	C2
	-
If the spray bead gem be won	D2
The stain of thy wing is washed away	Q
But another errand must be done	D2
Ere thy crime be lost for aye	-
Thy flame wood lamp is quenched and dark	H
Thou must re illume its spark	H
Mount thy steed and spur him high	-
To the heaven's blue canopy	-
And when thou seest a shooting star	E2
Follow it fast and follow it far	E2
The last faint spark of its burning train	Z
Shall light the elfin lamp again	F2
Thou hast heard our sentence Fay	Q
Hence to the water side away	Q
	-
X	C2
	-
The goblin marked his monarch well	N
He spake not but he bowed him low	A
Then plucked a crimson colen bell	N
And turned him round in act to go	A
The way is long he cannot fly	-
His soiled wing has lost its power	S
And he winds adown the mountain high	-
For many a sore and weary hour	S
Through dreary beds of tangled fern	G2
Through groves of nightshade dark and dern	G2
Over the grass and through the brake	I
Where toils the ant and sleeps the snake	I
Now o'er the violet's azure flush	H2
He skips along in lightsome mood	F
And now he thrids the bramble bush	I2
Till its points are dyed in fairy blood	F
He has leapt the bog he has pierced the briar	S
He has swum the brook and waded the mire	J2
Till his spirits sank and his limbs grew weak	K2
And the red waxed fainter in his cheek	K2
He had fallen to the ground outright	F
For rugged and dim was his onward track	J
But there came a spotted toad in sight	F
And he laughed as he jumped upon her back	J
He bridled her mouth with a silk weed twist	F
He lashed her sides with an osier thong	L2
And now through evening's dewy mist	F
With leap and spring they bound along	L2
Till the mountain's magic verge is past	F
And the beach of sand is reached at last	F
	-
XI	-
	-
Soft and pale is the moony beam	K
Moveless still the glassy stream	K
The wave is clear the beach is bright	F
With snowy shells and sparkling stones	C2
The shore surge comes in ripples light	F
In murmurings faint and distant moans	C2
And ever afar in the silence deep	M2
Is heard the splash of the sturgeon's leap	M2
And the bend of his graceful bow is seen	R
A glittering arch of silver sheen	R
Spanning the wave of burnished blue	F
And dripping with gems of the river dew	F
	-
XII	C2
	-
The elfin cast a glance around	F
As he lighted down from his courser toad	F
Then round his breast his wings he wound	F
And close to the river's brink he strode	F
He sprang on a rock he breathed a prayer	E
Above his head his arms he threw	F
Then tossed a tiny curve in air	E
And headlong plunged in the waters blue	F
	-
XIII	C2
	-
Up sprung the spirits of the waves	C2
From sea silk beds in their coral caves	C2
With snail plate armour snatched in haste	F
They speed their way through the liquid waste	F
Some are rapidly borne along	L2
On the mailed shrimp or the prickly prong	L2
Some on the blood red leeches glide	F
Some on the stony star fish ride	F
Some on the back of the lancing squab	V
Some on the sidelong soldier crab	V
And some on the jellied quarl that flings	C2
At once a thousand streamy stings	C2
They cut the wave with the living oar	N2
And hurry on to the moonlight shore	N2
To guard their realms and chase away	Q
The footsteps of the invading Fay	Q
	-
XIV	Q
	-
Fearlessly he skims along	L2
His hope is high and his limbs are strong	L2
He spreads his arms like the swallow's wing	D
And throws his feet with a frog like fling	D
His locks of gold on the waters shine	B2
At his breast the tiny foam beads rise	C2
His back gleams bright above the brine	B2
And the wake line foam behind him lies	C2
But the water sprites are gathering near	Y
To check his course along the tide	F
Their warriors come in swift career	Y
And hem him round on every side	F
On his thigh the leech has fixed his hold	F
The quarl's long arms are round him roll'd	F
The prickly prong has pierced his skin	O2
And the squab has thrown his javelin	D2
The gritty star has rubbed him raw	P2
And the crab has struck with his giant claw	Q2
He howls with rage and he shrieks with pain	Z
He strikes around but his blows are vain	Z
Hopeless is the unequal fight	F
Fairy nought is left but flight	F
	-
XV	Q
	-
He turned him round and fled amain	Z
With hurry and dash to the beach again	Z
He twisted over from side to side	F
And laid his cheek to the cleaving tide	F
The strokes of his plunging arms are fleet	F
And with all his might he flings his feet	F
But the water sprites are round him still	L
To cross his path and work him ill	L
They bade the wave before him rise	C2
They flung the sea fire in his eyes	C2
And they stunned his ears with the scallop stroke	O
With the porpoise heave and the drum fish croak	O
Oh but a weary wight was he	-
When he reached the foot of the dog wood tree	-
Gashed and wounded and stiff and sore	N2
He laid him down on the sandy shore	N2
He blessed the force of the charmed line	Z
And he banned the water goblin's spite	F
For he saw around in the sweet moonshine	Z
Their little wee faces above the brine	Z
Giggling and laughing with all their might	F
At the piteous hap of the Fairy wight	F
	-
XVI	Q
	-
Soon he gathered the balsam dew	F
From the sorrel leaf and the henbane bud	F
Over each wound the balm he drew	F
And with cobweb lint he stanched the blood	F
The mild west wind was soft and low	A
It cooled the heat of his burning brow	V
And he felt new life in his sinews shoot	F
As he drank the juice of the cal'mus root	F
And now he treads the fatal shore	N2
As fresh and vigorous as before	N2
	-
XVII	Q
	-
Wrapped in musing stands the sprite	F
'Tis the middle wane of night	F
His task is hard his way is far	E2
But he must do his errand right	F
Ere dawning mounts her beamy car	E2
And rolls her chariot wheels of light	F
And vain are the spells of fairy land	F
He must work with a human hand	F
	-
XVIII	Q
	-
He cast a saddened look around	F
But he felt new joy his bosom swell	N
When glittering on the shadowed ground	F
He saw a purple muscle shell	N
Thither he ran and he bent him low	A
He heaved at the stern and he heaved at the bow	V
And he pushed her over the yielding sand	F
Till he came to the verge of the haunted land	F
She was as lovely a pleasure boat	F
As ever fairy had paddled in	Z
For she glowed with purple paint without	F
And shone with silvery pearl within	Z
A sculler's notch in the stern he made	F
An oar he shaped of the bootle blade	F
Then spung to his seat with a lightsome leap	M2
And launched afar on the calm blue deep	M2
	-
XIX	C2
	-
The imps of the river yell and rave	Q
They had no power above the wave	Q
But they heaved the billow before the prow	V
And they dashed the surge against her side	F
And they struck her keel with jerk and blow	A
Till the gunwale bent to the rocking tide	F
She wimpled about in the pale moonbeam	K
Like a feather that floats on a wind tossed stream	K
And momently athwart her track	J
The quarl upreared his island back	J
And the fluttering scallop behind would float	F
And patter the water about the boat	F
But he bailed her out with his colen bell	N
And he kept her trimmed with a wary tread	F
While on every side like lightening fell	N
The heavy strokes of his bootle blade	F
	-
XX	C2
	-
Onward still he held his way	Q
Till he came where the column of moonshine lay	Q
And saw beneath the surface dim	A2
The brown backed sturgeon slowly swim	A2
Around him were the goblin train	Z
But he sculled with all his might and main	Z
And followed wherever the sturgeon led	F
Till he saw him upward point his head	F
Then he dropped his paddle blade	F
And held his colen goblet up	U
To catch the drop in its crimson cup	U
	-
XXI	C2
	-
With sweeping tail and quivering fin	Z
Through the wave the sturgeon flew	F
And like the heaven shot javelin	Z
He sprug above the waters blue	F
Instant as the star fall light	F
He plunged him in the deep again	Z
But left an arch of silver bright	F
The rainbow of the moony main	Z
It was a strange and lovely sight	F
To see the puny goblin there	E
He seemed an angel form of light	F
With azure wing and sunny hair	E
Throned on a cloud of purple fair	E
Circled with blue and edged with white	F
And sitting at the fall of even	Z
Beneath the bow of summer heaven	Z
	-
XXII	C2
	-
A moment and its lustre fell	N
But ere it met the billow blue	F
He caught within his crimson bell	N
A droplet of its sparkling dew	F
Joy to thee Fay thy task is done	Z
Thy wings are pure for the gem is won	Z
Cheerly ply thy dripping oar	N2
And haste away to the elfin shore	N2
	-
XXIII	C2
	-
He turns and lo on either side	F
The ripples on his path divide	F
And the track o'er which his boat must pass	C2
Is smooth as a sheet of polished glass	C2
Around their limbs the sea nymphs lave	Q
With snowy arms half swelling out	F
While on the glossed and gleamy wave	Q
Their sea green ringlets loosely float	F
They swim around with smile and song	L2
They press the bark with pearly hand	F
And gently urge her course along	L2
Toward the beach of speckled sand	F
And as he lightly leapt to land	F
They bade adieu with nod and bow	V
Then gayly kissed each little hand	F
And dropped in the crystal deep below	A
	-
XXIV	Q
	-
A moment staied the fairy there	E
He kissed the beach and breathed a prayer	E
Then spread his wings of gilded blue	F
And on to the elfin court he flew	F
As ever ye saw a bubble rise	C2
And shine with a thousand changing dyes	C2
Till lessening far through ether driven	Z
It mingles with the hues of heaven	Z
As at the glimpse of morning pale	R2
The lance fly spreads his silken sail	R2
And gleams with blendings soft and bright	F
Till lost in the shades of fading night	F
So rose from earth the lovely Fay	Q
So vanished far in heaven away	Q
	-
	-
	-
Up Fairy quit thy chick weed bower	S
The cricket has called the second hour	S
Twice again and the lark will rise	C2
To kiss the streaking of the skies	C2
Up thy charmed armour don	Z
Thou'lt need it ere the night be gone	Z
	-
XXV	Q
	-
He put his acorn helmet on	Z
It was plumed of the silk of the thistle down	Z
The corslet plate that guarded his breast	F
Was once the wild bee's golden vest	F
His cloak of a thousand mingled dyes	C2
Was formed of the wings of butterflies	C2
His shield was the shell of a lady bug queen	Z
Studs of gold on a ground of green	Z
And the quivering lance which he brandished bright	F
Was the sting of a wasp he had slain in fight	F
Swift he bestrode his fire fly steed	F
He bared his blade of the bent grass blue	F
He drove his spurs of the cockle seed	F
And away like a glance of thought he flew	F
To skim the heavens and follow far	E2
The fiery trail of the rocket star	E2
	-
XXVI	Q
	-
The moth fly as he shot in air	E
Crept under the leaf and hid her there	E
The katy did forgot its lay	Q
The prowling gnat fled fast away	Q
The fell mosqueto checked his drone	Z
And folded his wings till the Fay was gone	Z
And the wily beetle dropped his head	F
And fell on the ground as if he were dead	F
They crouched them close in the darksome shade	F
They quaked all o'er with awe and fear	Y
For they had felt the blue bent blade	F
And writhed at the prick of the elfin spear	Y
Many a time on a summer's night	F
When the sky was clear and the moon was bright	F
They had been roused from the haunted ground	F
By the yelp and bay of the fairy hound	F
They had heard the tiny bugle horn	Z
They had heard of twang of the maize silk string	D
When the vine twig bows were tightly drawn	Z
And the nettle shaft through the air was borne	Z
Feathered with down the hum bird's wing	D
And now they deemed the courier ouphe	Q
Some hunter sprite of the elfin ground	F
And they watched till they saw him mount the roof	Q
That canopies the world around	F
Then glad they left their covert lair	E
And freaked about in the midnight air	E
	-
XXVII	Q
	-
Up to the vaulted firmament	F
His path the fire fly courser bent	F
And at every gallop on the wind	F
He flung a glittering spark behind	F
He flies like a feather in the blast	F
Till the first light cloud in heaven is past	F
But the shapes of air have begun their work	S2
And a drizzly mist is round him cast	F
He cannot see through the mantle murk	S2
He shivers with cold but he urges fast	F
Through storm and darkness sleet and shade	F
He lashes his steed and spurs amain	Z
For shadowy hands have twitched the rein	Z
And flame shot tongues around him played	F
And near him many a fiendish eye	-
Glared with a fell malignity	F
And yells of rage and shrieks of fear	Y
Came screaming on his startled ear	T2
	-
XXVIII	Q
	-
His wings are wet around his breast	F
The plume hangs dripping from his crest	F
His eyes are blur'd with the lightning's glare	E
And his ears are stunned with the thunder's blare	E
But he gave a shout and his blade he drew	F
He thrust before and he struck behind	F
Till he pierced their cloudy bodies through	F
And gashed their shadowy limbs of wind	F
Howling the misty spectres flew	F
They rend the air with frightful cries	C2
For he has gained the welkin blue	F
And the land of clouds beneath him lies	C2
	-
XXIX	C2
	-
Up to the cope careering swift	F
In breathless motion fast	F
Fleet as the swallow cuts the drift	F
Or the sea roc rides the blast	F
The sapphire sheet of eve is shot	F
The sphered moon is past	F
The earth but seems a tiny blot	F
On a sheet of azure cast	F
O it was sweet in the clear moonlight	F
To tread the starry plain of even	Z
To meet the thousand eyes of night	F
And feel the cooling breath of heaven	Z
But the Elfin made no stop or stay	F
Till he came to the bank of the milky way	F
Then he checked his courser's foot	F
And watched for the glimpse of the planet shoot	F
	-
XXX	C2
	-
Sudden along the snowy tide	F
That swelled to meet their footstep's fall	U2
The sylphs of heaven were seen to glide	F
Attired in sunset's crimson pall	V2
Around the Fay they weave the dance	C2
They skip before him on the plain	Z
And one has taken his wasp sting lance	C2
And one upholds his bridle rein	Z
With warblings wild they lead him on	Z
To where through clouds of amber seen	Z
Studded with stars resplendent shone	Z
The palace of the sylphid queen	Z
Its spiral columns gleaming bright	F
Were streamers of the northern light	F
Its curtain's light and lovely flush	H2
Was of the morning's rosy blush	H2
And the ceiling fair that rose aboon	Z
The white and feathery fleece of noon	Z
	-
XXXI	C2
	-
But oh how fair the shape that lay	F
Beneath a rainbow bending bright	F
She seemed to the entranced Fay	F
The loveliest of the forms of light	F
Her mantle was the purple rolled	F
At twilight in the west afar	E2
'Twas tied with threads of dawning gold	F
And buttoned with a sparkling star	E2
Her face was like the lily roon	Z
That veils the vestal planet's hue	F
Her eyes two beamlets from the moon	Z
Set floating in the welkin blue	F
Her hair is like the sunny beam	K
And the diamond gems which round it gleam	K
Are the pure drops of dewy even	Z
That ne'er have left their native heaven	Z
	-
XXXII	C2
	-
She raised her eyes to the wondering sprite	F
And they leapt with smiles for well I ween	Z
Never before in the bowers of light	F
Had the form of an earthly Fay been seen	Z
Long she looked in his tiny face	C2
Long with his butterfly cloak she played	F
She smoothed his wings of azure lace	C2
And handled the tassel of his blade	F
And as he told in accents low	A
The story of his love and wo	A
She felt new pains in her bosom rise	C2
And the tear drop started in her eyes	C2
And 'O sweet spirit of earth ' she cried	F
'Return no more to your woodland height	F
But ever here with me abide	F
In the land of everlasting light	F
Within the fleecy drift we'll lie	-
We'll hang upon the rainbow's rim	A2
And all the jewels of the sky	-
Around thy brow shall brightly beam	K
And thou shalt bathe thee in the stream	K
That rolls its whitening foam aboon	Z
And ride upon the lightning's gleam	K
And dance upon the orbed moon	Z
We'll sit within the Pleiad ring	D
We'll rest on Orion's starry belt	F
And I will bid my sylphs to sing	D
The song that makes the dew mist melt	F
Their harps are of the umber shade	F
That hides the blush of waking day	F
And every gleamy string is made	F
Of silvery moonshine's lengthened ray	F
And thou shalt pillow on my breast	F
While heavenly breathings float around	F
And with the sylphs of ether blest	F
Forget the joys of fairy ground '	-
	-
XXXIII	C2
	-
She was lovely and fair to see	C2
And the elfin's heart beat fitfully	C2
But lovelier far and still more fair	E
The earthly form imprinted there	E
Nought he saw in the heavens above	Q
Was half so dear as his mortal love	Q
For he thought upon her looks so meek	K2
And he thought of the light flush on her cheek	K2
Never again might he bask and lie	-
On that sweet cheek and moonlight eye	-
But in his dreams her form to see	C2
To clasp her in his reverie	C2
To think upon his virgin bride	F
Was worth all heaven and earth beside	F
	-
XXXIV	Q
	-
'Lady ' he cried 'I have sworn to night	F
On the word of a fairy knight	F
To do my sentence task aright	F
My honour scarce is free from stain	Z
I may not soil its snows again	Z
Betide me weal betide me wo	A
Its mandate must be answered now '	-
Her bosom heaved with many a sigh	Q
The tear was in her drooping eye	Q
But she led him to the palace gate	F
And called the sylphs who hovered there	E
And bade them fly and bring him straight	F
Of clouds condensed a sable car	E2
With charm and spell she blessed it there	E
From all the fiends of upper air	E
Then round him cast the shadowy shroud	F
And tied his steed behind the cloud	F
And pressed his hand as she bade him fly	Q
Far to the verge of the northern sky	Q
For by its wane and wavering light	F
There was a star would fall to night	F
	-
XXXV	Q
	-
Borne after on the wings of the blast	F
Northward away he speeds him fast	F
And his courser follows the cloudy wain	Z
Till the hoof strokes fall like pattering rain	Z
The clouds roll backward as he flies	C2
Each flickering star behind him lies	C2
And he has reached the northern plain	Z
And backed his fire fly steed again	Z
Ready to follow in its flight	F
The streaming of the rocket light	F
	-
XXXVI	Q
	-
The star is yet in the vault of heaven	Z
But its rocks in the summer gale	R2
And now 'tis fitful and uneven	Z
And now 'tis deadly pale	R2
And now 'tis wrapp'd in sulphur smoke	O
And quenched is its rayless beam	K
And now with a rattling thunder stroke	O
It bursts in flash and flame	W2
As swift as the glance of the arrowy lance	C2
That the storm spirit flings from high	Q
The star shot flew o'er the welkin blue	F
As it fell from the sheeted sky	Q
As swift as the wind in its trail behind	F
The elfin gallops along	L2
The fiends of the clouds are bellowing loud	F
But the sylphid charm is strong	L2
He gallops unhurt in the shower of fire	S
While the cloud fiends fly from the blaze	C2
He watches each flake till its sparks expire	J2
And rides in the light of its rays	C2
But he drove his steed to the lightning's speed	F
And caught a glimmering spark	H
Then wheeled around to the fairy ground	F
And sped through the midnight dark	H
	-
	-
	-
Ouphe and goblin imp and sprite	F
Elf of eve and starry Fay	Q
Ye that love the moon's soft light	F
Hither hither wend your way	Q
Twine ye in the jocund ring	D
Sing and trip it merrily	C2
Hand to hand and wing to wing	D
Round the wild witch hazel tree	C2
	-
Hail the wanderer again	Z
With dance and song and lute and lyre	J2
Pure his wing and strong his chain	Z
And doubly bright his fairy fire	S
Twine ye in an airy round	F
Brush the dew and print the lea	C2
Skip and gambol hop and bound	F
Round the wild witch hazel tree	C2
	-
The beetle guards our holy ground	F
He flies about the haunted place	C2
And if mortal there be found	F
He hums in his ears and flaps his face	C2
The leaf harp sounds our roundelay	C2
The owlet's eyes our lanterns be	C2
Thus we sing and dance and play	C2
Round the wild witch hazel tree	C2
	-
But hark from tower on tree top high	Q
The sentry elf his call has made	F
A streak is in the eastern sky	Q
Shapes of moonlight flit and fade	F
The hill tops gleam in morning's spring	D
The sky lark shakes his dappled wing	D
The day glimpse glimmers on the lawn	Z
The cock has crowed the Fays are gone	Z

Joseph Rodman Drake

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