20 THE CULPRIT FAY. His sides are broken by spots of shade, The stars are on the moving stream, In an eel-like, spiral line below; And nought is heard on the lonely hill Of the gauze-winged katy-did; And the plaint of the wailing whip-poor-will, Ever a note of wail and wo, Till morning spreads her rosy wings, And earth and sky in her glances glow. III. "Tis the hour of fairy ban and spell: The wood-tick has kept the minutes well, He has counted them all with click and stroke, And he has awakened the sentry elve Who sleeps with him in the haunted tree, To bid him ring the hour of twelve, And call the fays to their revelry; Twelve small strokes on his tinkling bell- Hither, hither, wing your way! "Tis the dawn of the fairy day." 21 IV. They come from beds of lichen green, Some on the backs of beetles fly From the silver tops of moon-touched trees, Where they swung in their cobweb hammocks high, And rocked about in the evening breeze; Some from the hum-bird's downy nest They had driven him out by elfin power, And, pillowed on plumes of his rainbow breast, Had slumbered there till the charmed hour; Some had lain in the scoop of the rock, With glittering ising-stars inlaid And some had opened the four-o'clock, And stole within its purple shade. 22 THE CULPRIT FAY. And now they throng the moonlight glade, Above-below―on every side, Their little minim forms arrayed In the tricksy pomp of fairy pride! V. They come not now to print the lea, A scene of sorrow waits them now, For an Ouphe has broken his vestal vow; He has loved an earthly maid, And left for her his woodland shade; He has lain upon her lip of dew, And sunned him in her eye of blue, Fanned her cheek with his wing of air, Played in the ringlets of her hair, For this the shadowy tribes of air To the elfin court must haste away : And now they stand expectant there, To hear the doom of the Culprit Fay. THE CULPRIT FAY. 23 VI. The throne was reared upon the grass Of spice-wood and of sassafras; On pillars of mottled tortoise-shell Hung the burnished canopy- On his brow the crown imperial shone, The prisoner Fay was at his feet, And his peers were ranged around the throne. He waved his sceptre in the air, He looked around and calmly spoke; His brow was grave and his eye severe, But his voice in a softened accent broke : VII. Fairy! Fairy! list and mark, Thou hast broke thine elfin chain, Thy flame-wood lamp is quenched and dark, In the glance of a mortal maiden's eye; 24 THE CULPRIT FAY. Is pure as the angel forms above, Gentle and meek, and chaste and kind. Such as a spirit well might love; Fairy! had she spot or taint, Bitter had been thy punishment. Tied to the hornet's shardy wings; Of the worm, and the bug, and the murdered fly: These it had been your lot to bear, Had a stain been found on the earthly fair. Now list, and mark our mild decree Fairy, this your doom must be : VIII. "Thou shalt seek the beach of sand Where the water bounds the elfin land, Thou shalt watch the oozy brine Till the sturgeon leaps in the bright moonshine, Then dart the glistening arch below, And catch a drop from his silver bow, |