Semi-weekly North-Carolina standard. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1852-1853, 1852-02-11
For the Standard.
OF inc 81
THE FAIRIES DANCE

THE FAIRIES DANCE. r.e
| How oft In the days of my childhood read
Those wonderful tales Of the Fays and their Queen,
And heartily envied the lives which they led,
For firmly believed in their dance on the green.
All we'll remember that soft night in June,
w hen having discovered their ring in the grass,
Methought l would watch by the light of the moon,
And see if such wonders would still come to pass.
As opened my window and gazed on the night, =
How lovely the vision that greeted my eye!
The leaves and the flowers bdthed in soft light,
Whilst the "Tears of the Angels were sparkling on
high. .. -. -
The genius of DarIGAess in silence reposed,
As wrapped in mantle of moonlight he lay.
For gently the wings of the Giant had closed
Beneath the soft touch of that bright silver ray.
All bright the fances that danced thro' my brain
AS eagerly counted fhe stroke of the clock,
And hoped that my vigil would not he in vain,
But the Fairies would dance till the Growing of cock
listened. all nature lay hushed in repose.
When gently there stole from the bosom of earth,
strain Of low music that swelled as it rose,
Till 1t seemed the out-pouring of gadness and mrlh.
At the sound of this music the flowers awoke,
say their bright cups in a moment expand
When 10 from these cells there suddenly broke,
AS freed by some magic, gay fairy band.
From each blossom there fair laughing elf,
Whom safe in its petals it guarded by day.
And kept closely prisoned, in spite of itself,
Till their queen gave the ehns permission TO play.
watched a pure Lily its white petals spread,
marked the long tube of the w oodbne unclose,
And forth from their centre whence perfume is shed,
The Queen and her lovely young maidens arose.
Every prison opened and out they streaming
From the cell of each flower that boome:i in my view,
The air in an instant with fairies tremng,
Who all of them merry sung as they flew.
.sOh, the fair moons up, by her silvery light,
We Fairies may merrily dance on the green,
She hath bound in slumber the genius of night,
And high in the heavens is reigning Queen.
Then Fairies away, it's the hour for play,
To- Lam ri, adj for nd for
Well be merry and gay, till the break of the day,
If happy old Darkness shall slumber so long.
From the tuft of the scarlet Verboena they sped,
From the bud of the Fox love, all spanged with
dew,
Like cloud they arose from the Mignonette bed,
From the teeth of the fly-trap they CALAMITY flew
From the leaves of the Rosebud, from the Eioets CELL
From the depths of the Fuchia they merriIy sprang,
They were hid mid the sweets of the Jessamine' 8
BELL
They looked like the rapidly changing shade
OF the Rainbow light in a summer shower,
Or the mingling hues by the sunset made,
For each was the tint of its fav're flower.
AS butterflies oft in the heat of the day,
Upon the cool bank of some rivulet sport,
marked to the ring they all futtered away,
Where high in the midst the Queen held her court,
For hours watched them as round an old oak,
They danced the und of that strain,
Till growing too noisy, old Darkness awoke,
And child them all back to their flowers again.
In anger the giant arose from his rest,
And from him his mantle of moonlight he cast,
Then frowned on the moon till she sank in the West,
For she knew that her hour of triumph was past,
All yes it was ended and Darkness again
SIP read over the earth his broad wings for while,
Till the goddess of morn she Ger the plain,
Dispelled all his gloom by the light Of her smile.
She dried up the tears of the Fairies that fell,
In drops of fresh dew the flowers around,
ii in nv haa t2SI had them IA
Pm glad that know where the Fairies are found.
*B.*