Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/375

FERN-LAND Elfin, sylphide, fay and gnome

On the dew-tipped ferns disport,

In the festooned creepers swing,

Their light plumage fluttering.

Fern-Land is their ancient home,

Here the monarch holds his court,

Puck abideth;

Here the Queen her changeling hideth,

Ariel doth merrily sing.

V

, when Dian shuns the sky,

Swift the winged watchmen fly,—

Flash their torches

In and out mimosa porches

Till the first pale glint of morn:

Then the little people change

Casque and doublet, robe and sash,

In the twinkling of a lash,

For the magic mantles worn

Warily where mortals range,

And beside us

Now unseen, with glee deride us,

Laugh to scorn our trespass rash.

VI

the gnomes, that change to newts,

Lurk about the tree-fern's roots;

Their commander

Is the frog-mouthed salamander

Who will marshal in the sun

Red-backed lizards from the vines,

Eft and newt from bog and spring,—

Many a crested, horny thing

Sharp-eyed, fearsome,—and that one

With the loathly spotted lines! 345