Classic Poem

Mabel, darling Mabel,
Dancing down the lane;
Flitting, like a butterfly,
Between the drops of rain!
Now the sun out-peeping,
Gleams upon her hair,
Glitters in the drops that deck
Her little feet so bare.
Mabel, pretty Mabel,
So gentle and so wild;
She 's not like other children,
She 's half a fairy child, —
Ever watching, listening,
So quick of eye and ear,
As though she saw what none could see,
Heard what none could hear.

In her bed at midnight,
By her sister's side:

" Tell me, Mabel darling, "
So the sister cried,
" Why are you so silent,
Who used to be so bright,
Whispering to yourself all day,
Wakeful half the night?
Tell me, for I love you,
What has changed you so? "
Then the little Mabel
Whispered, shy and low:
" Listen to my secret;
I will tell you, dear,
What no other creature,
None but you, must hear.

" Last midsummer morning,
At the dawn of day,
I rambled through the meadows
For a lonely play.
In the willow copses
We call the wilderness,
I found — but guess, dear sister —
No, you would never guess!
I found a fairy table,
Round, and draped in white,
Where the fairies left it,
Feasting overnight;
Heaped with tempting viands,
Dainty fruits and wine,
And sparkling crimson goblets,
All wreathed with partridge vine. "

" But oh, my little Mabel! "
The frightened sister spake,
" You did not taste the fairy fare,
Their bread you did not break? "
Alas, the pretty maiden,
She shook her curly head;
To her anxious sister
Whispering low, she said:
" I sipped a sip of fairy wine,
I tasted fairy bread!

" I ate and drank, " said Mabel,
" And from that happy day
With mortal children, large and rough,
I do not care to play;
But I am ever waiting
The coming of a band
To follow, follow, follow,
Away to fairy-land!
And so I watch and listen
Until the elfins come
To take me for their playmate,
To make with them my home. "

Then up arose the sister,
And to the woods she went;
With the woodland creatures
A summer day she spent:
Asked the woodland creatures,
" Tell me, I implore,
Must my little sister
Live with us no more? "
Asked a squirrel racing
Up a cherry tree,
" Tell me, pretty squirrel,
Tell the truth to me. "

But the squirrel chattered,
Frisked and chattered on;
Ate a wild red cherry,
Flung to her the stone;
Then away he frolicked,
With a laugh went he,
Scampered down the cherry,
Up another tree.

Then the sister wandered
Onward, patiently;
Found a big bee buzzing
Round a flowering vine,
Sucking clover blossoms,
Quaffing scented wine;
Asked of him so humbly,
Begged him so to stay,
That he hummed around her,
In his clumsy way:
When he found the maiden
Was no monstrous flower,
Off he flew in dudgeon
To his honey-tower.

Many birds and insects
Flitted gayly by,
Pausing not to listen
Nor to make reply:
Till a yellow flicker,
Tapping on a tree,
Paused and listened gravely,
Listened curiously:
Heard the mournful story
That the sister told,
Then, with many an antic,
Pert and overbold,
Answered, while he neatly
Preened his wings of gold:
" The child that feeds on fairy food
Never can grow old! "

" O flicker, pretty flicker, "
She said, with sob and sigh,
" You mean my darling Mabel,
My little pet, will die? "
He spread his wings so lightly,
So lightly flew away;
But the troubled sister
Wept the livelong day:
Until a vesper-sparrow,
Touched by her distress,
Lilted out his lyric,
Full of tenderness,
With a soothing message
Trilled the closing part:
" The child that feasts on fairy fare
Will keep a childlike heart. "