1827.] Song of a Sea-Fairy to a Land-Fairy. 33 



Of the young, impatient Day, 



Bid him take his wonted way 



Through that bright arch, which doth span 



Wider than the eye of man 



Can o'ermeasure, though it strain 



Over earth and over main. 



Come ere yet his westering wheels 

 Dip in the gold-sprinkled sea, 



And dusk Night, like Comus, reels 

 From his lewd lair, lustfully ! 

 We have fields of emerald-green 

 (Such as are by seamen seen 

 When they plunge into the sea, 

 In some sick-brained fantasy, 

 Dreaming their home-fields they see), 

 Wherein many an unknown flower 

 Blooms, and feels no seasons's power, 

 But are ever sweet and fair, 

 Though the sun shines never there, 

 But only the pale-lided moon 

 (Coming forth to hear the tune 

 Of nightingale, by waters near 

 Warbling to the dull Night's ear) 

 Blesses them with milder beams, 

 As devote to her deep streams ! 

 There you may those flowers behold, 

 Which our spring has dropt with gold ; 

 Others shining, night and day, 

 With a silvery, star-like ray, 

 Making every step you tread 

 Bright, and soft, and essenced : 

 Daisies white, like water-stars, 

 Beaming brighter than the spars 

 That, when Neptune is a-bed, 

 Light his sea-cave overhead : 

 Lilies, white as thy cool hand ; 

 Violets, sweet as those on land, 

 And as delicately blue 

 As the fair veins running through 



Thy white brow, that whitest wonder 

 Fields among whose verdant weed 

 Harmless creatures sport and feed, 



Gliding wave and billow under ; 

 Where, indeed, no monstrous thing, 

 Dolphins, rudely gambolling ; 



Rough sea-lions, roaring thunder ; 

 Slimy serpent, and sleek seal ; 

 Savage sea-wolf, sinuous eel ; 

 Crocodiles, which covert keep, 

 Dealing death when feigning sleep ; 

 Water-throwing whales, that make 

 Ocean vibrate like a lake ; 

 Crafty sharks, that slily steal 

 To snatch their savage, sudden meal ; 

 Wild sea-horses, spurning strong 

 The sands, as fierce they scour along, 

 Till the frothing waters foam ; 

 None of these will, wanton, come 

 M.M. New Series. VoL.lIl. No.13. F 



