Song Of The Elf

I.     When the poppies, with their shields,     Sentinel     Forest and the harvest fields,     In the bell     Of a blossom, fair to see,     There I stall the bumble-bee,     My good stud;     There I stable him and hold,     Harness him with hairy gold;     There I ease his burly back     Of the honey and its sack     Gathered from each bud. II.     Where the glow-worm lights its lamp,     There I lie;     Where, above the grasses damp,     Moths go by;     Now within the fussy brook,     Where the waters wind and crook     Round the rocks,     I go sailing down the gloom     Straddling on a wisp of broom;     Or, beneath the owlet moon,     Trip it to the cricket's tune     Tossing back my locks. III.     Ere the crowfoot on the lawn     Lifts its head,     Or the glow-worm's light be gone,     Dim and dead,     In a cobweb hammock deep,     'Twixt two ferns I swing and sleep,     Hid away;     Where the drowsy musk-rose blows     And a dreamy runnel flows,     In the land of Fary,     Where no mortal thing can see,     All the elfin day.