FAIRY POETRY

When the first baby laughed for the first time,
The laugh broke into a thousand pieces and
they all went skipping about,
And that was the beginning of fairies.
(Sir James Matthews Barrie (1860-1937))


DREAM FAIRY

A little fairy comes at night, Her eyes are blue, her hair is brown,
With silver spots upon her wings, And from the moon she flutters down.
She has a little silver wand, And when a good child goes to bed,
She waves her hand from right to left, And makes a circle round its head.
And then it dreams of pleasant things, Of fountains filled with fairy fish,
And trees that bear delicious fruit, And bow their branches at a wish.

THE CHILD AND THE FAERIES
(Author Unknown)

The woods are full of faeries!
The trees are all alive;
The river overflows with them,
See how they dip and dive!
What funny little fellows!
What dainty little dears!
They dance and leap,
and prance and peep,
And utter fairy cheers!
I'd like to tame a fairy,
To keep it on a shelf,
And dress its little self.
I'd teach it pretty manners,
It always should say "please",
And then you know I'd make it sew,
And curtsey with its knee.

FAIRY SHOES
(Annette Wynne)

The little shoes that fairies wear
Are very small indeed;
No larger than a violet bud,
As tiny as a seed.

The little shoes that fairies wear
Are very trim and neat;
They leave no tracks behind for those
Who search along the street.

The little shoes of fairies are
So light and soft and small
That though a million passed you by
You would not hear at all.

THE FAIRIES
(William Allingham )

Up the airy mountain
Down the rushy glen,
We dare n't go a-hunting,
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl's feather.
Down along the rocky shore
Some make their home,
They live on crispy pancakes
Of yellow tide-foam;
Some in the reeds
Of the black mountain-lake,
With frogs for their watch-dogs,
All night awake.
High on the hill-top
The old King sits;
He is now so old and gray
He's nigh lost his wits.
With a bridge of white mist
Columbkill he crosses,
On his stately journeys
From Slieveleague to Rosses;
Or going up with music,
On cold starry nights,
To sup with the Queen,
Of the gay Northern Lights.

They stole little Bridget
For seven years long;
When she came down again
Her friends were all gone.
They took her lightly back
Between the night and morrow;
They thought she was fast asleep,
But she was dead with sorrow.
They have kept her ever since
Deep within the lake,
On a bed of flag leaves,
Watching till she wake.
By the craggy hill-side,
Through the mosses bare,
They have planted thorn trees
For pleasure here and there.
Is any man so daring
As dig them up in spite?
He shall find the thornies set
In his bed at night.
Up the airy mountain
Down the rushy glen,
We dare n't go a-hunting,
For fear of little men;
Wee folk, good folk,
Trooping all together;
Green jacket, red cap,
And white owl's feather.

I'D LOVE TO BE A FAIRY'S CHILD
(Robert Graves)

Children born of fairy stock
Never need for shirt or frock,
Never want for food or fire,
Always get their heart's desire:
Jingle pockets full of gold,
Marry when they're seven years old.
Every fairy child may keep
Two strong ponies and ten sheep;
All have houses, each his own,
Built of brick or granite stone;
They live on cherries, they run wild --
I'd love to be a fairy's child.

THE ROAD TO FAIRYLAND
(Ernest Thompson Seton)

Do you seek the road to Fairyland
I'll tell; it's easy, quite.
Wait till a yellow moon gets up
O'er purple seas by night,
And gilds a shining pathway
That is sparkling diamond bright
Then, if no evil power be nigh
To thwart you, out of spite,
And if you know the very words
To cast a spell of might,
You get upon a thistledown,
And, if the breeze is right,
You sail away to Fairyland
Along this track of light.

"As I was saying, when I have been to sea close under the cliffs, of a fine summer's night, I have heard the sweetest of music, and seen hundreds of little lights moving about amongst what looked like flowers, Ay! and they are flowers too, for you may smell the sweet scent far out at sea. Indeed, I have heard many of the old men say, that they have smelt the sweet perfume, and heard the music from the fairy gardens of the Castle, when more than a mile from the shore." Strangely enough, you can find no flowers but the sea-pinks in these lovely green places by day, yet they have been described by those who have seen them in the midsummer moonlight as being covered with flowers of every color, all of them far more brilliant than any blossoms seen in any mortal garden." (Author Unknown)


A set of fairy wings for you.

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