From The Poets

Southland Times, Issue 19966, 4 September 1926, Page 23 (Supplement)

From The Poets

A FAIRY FUNERAL. I. Bear her along, Keep ye your song Tender and sweet and low; Fairies must die! Ask ye not why, Ye that have hurt her so. Passing away—flower from the spray! colour and light from the leaf! Soon, soon will the year shed its bloom on her bier, and the dust of its dreams on our grief. 11. Men upon Earth Bring us to birth Gently at even and morn! When as brother and brother They meet one another And smile—then a fairy is born! But at each cruel word Upon earth that is heard, Each deed of unkindness or hate, Some fairy must pass From the games in the grass And steal thro’ the terrible Gate. Passing away—flower from the spray! colour and light from the leaf! Soon, soon will the year shed its bloom on her bier, and the dust of its dreams on our grief. 111. If ye knew, if ye knew All the wrong that ye do By the thought that ye harbour alone, How the face of some fairy Grows wistful and weary And the heart in her cold as a stone! Ah, she was born Blithe as the morn Under an April sky Born of the greeting Of two lovers meeting! They parted and so she must die! Passing away—flower from the spray! colour and light from the leaf! Soon, soon will the year shed its bloom on her bier, and the dust of its drcams on our grief. IV. Cradled in blisses, Yea, born of your kisses Oh, ye lovers that met by the moon, She would not have cried In the darkness and died If ye had not forgotten so soon. Cruel mortals, they say, Live for ever and aye, And they pray in the dark on their knees! But the flowers that are fled And the loves that are dead, What heaven takes pity on these? Bear her along, singing your song, tender and sweet and low! Fairies must die! Ask ye not why—ye that have hurt her so. Passing away— Flower from the spray! Colour and light from the leaf! Soon, soon will the year Shed its bloom on her bier And the dust of its dreams on our grief. —Alfred Noyes.