Page:The poems of Edmund Clarence Stedman, 1908.djvu/376

THE CARIB SEA Mortal heedeth

Him, whose breath of poison speedeth

Them that chafe the elfin king.

VII

above, that feed on dew,

Flit their wings of gold and blue,—

Fancy guesses

These must be the court-princesses:

Others are in durance pent,

Changed to orchids for their tricks,—

Wantons they, who must remain

All day long in beauteous pain

Till stern Oberon relent,

Pardon grant, and seal affix.

Each repineth

Thus until the monarch dineth

And, content, doth loose her chain.

VIII

you had the fine, fine ear

The dragonfly's recall to hear,—

Tiny words

Of the vibrant hummingbirds

That, where bloom convolvuli,

Round the dew-cups whir and hover,

Thrusting each, hour after hour,

His keen bill to heart o' the flower,

As some mounted knight may ply

His long lance, an eager lover,

Through deep sedges,

And athrough the coppice edges,

Fain to reach his lady's bower.

IX

the emerald lancers poise

In the soft air without noise, 346