Page:Poems, now first collected, Stedman, 1897.djvu/199

FERN-LAND IX

Whilst the emerald lancers poise

In the soft air without noise,

Brake and mould

Hoard their marvels manifold.

There the armored beetles creep,

Shrouding in unseemly fear

Each his shield of chrysoprase

Lest its gleam himself betrays

For our kind to seize and keep

Prisoned in a damsel's ear.

Each one stealeth

Dumbly, and his dull way feeleth

Until starlight shall appear.

X

Step you soft, be mute and wary

Lest you wake the lords of Faery!

Motion rude

Fits not with their solitude:

Else the spider will resent

And the beetle nip you well,

Bête-rouge in your neck will furrow,

Garapata dig his burrow:— 179