Classic Poem

‘Here's a wonderful thing,
A humming-bird's wing
—In hammered gold,
And store well chosen
Of snowflakes frozen
—In crystal cold.

Black onyx cherries
And mistletoe berries
—Of chrysoprase,
Jade buds, tight shut,
All carven and cut
—In intricate ways.

Here, if you please
Are little gilt bees
—In amber drops
Which look like honey,
Translucent and sunny,
—From clover-tops.

Here's an elfin girl
Of mother-of-pearl
—And moonshine made,
With tortoise-shell hair
Both dusky and fair
—In its light and shade.

Here's lacquer laid thin,
Like a scarlet skin
—On an ivory fruit;
And a filigree frost
Of frail notes lost
—From a fairy lute.

Here's a turquoise chain
Of sun-shower rain
—To wear if you wish;
And glimmering green
With aquamarine,
—A silvery fish.

Here are pearls all strung
On a thread among
—Pretty pink shells;
And bubbles blown
From the opal stone
—Which ring like bells.

Touch them and take them,
But do not break them!
—Beneath your hand
They will wither like foam
If you carry them home
—Out of fairy-land.

O, they never can last
Though you hide them fast
—From moth and from rust;
In your monstrous day
They will crumble away
—Into quicksilver dust.