372 POEMS 
Little blue phantom around my dory flitting 
Or poised in peaceful silence on the loom of 
my oar, 
Heaven has marked out for thee a labor that is 
fitting 
Though eyes dim and human may miss thy 
secret lore. 
Fairies that have fled from the grasp of earthly 
forces, , 
Shielded from the view of us mortals dimly- 
eyed, 
These are their chariots, these their wingéd 
horses, 
Safe on these coursers the vanished fairies 
ride, 
RABIAH’S DEFENCE! 
Go not away from us; stay, O Rabiah, son of 
Mukad ! 
Soft may the clouds of dawn spread dew on thy 
grassy grave, 
Rabiah, the long-locked boy, who guardedst thy 
women, dead. 
1 The tradition may be found in Lyall’s Axcient Arabian 
Poetry, page 56. The measure is an imitation of the Arabic 
Tawil. 
