Page:All quiet along the Potomac and other poems.djvu/185

 THE FAIR IE FERN. 1 79

I saw as I passed by the angels road Where the feet of your child had been ;

I saw the shine of the crystal bars As they lowered to let him in.&quot;



So the Christ-child came in the holy night,

And tarried the darkness through ; But was gone at morning, how or -when . None watching or waiting knew; But evermore through the Christmas chime

For a knock will the lone hearts wait, While Santa Claus, with his muffled bells,

Goes sorrowing past the gate.

��THE FAIRIE FERN.

1 LISTENED to Flite in his gilded cage- Listened and nodded above my page Listened and nodded ; and then and then I was far away from the haunts of men, Where a virgin forest about me stood Columned and leafy, a summer wood, Filled with the quiver of rushing wings And songs of the feathered and happy things.

Softly the Queen of the Fairies laid On my ear a fern twas an accolade, And I rose her knight, true and loyal fay, Who knew what the birds say day by day.

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