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V.

And there were many birds of many dyes,
From tree to tree still faring to and fro,
And stately peacocks with their splendid eyes,
And gorgeous pheasants with their golden glow,
Like Iris just bedabbled in her bow,
Beside some vocalists, without a name,
That oft on fairy errands come and go,
With accents magical;–and all were tame,
And peckled at my hand where’er I came.

VI.

And for my sylvan company, in lieu
Of Pampinea with her lively peers,
Sate Queen Titania with her pretty crew,
All in their liveries quaint, with elfin gears,
For she was gracious to my childish years,
And made me free of her enchanted round;
Wherefore this dreamy scene she still endears,
And plants her court upon a verdant mound,
Fenced with umbrageous woods and groves profound.

VII.

“Ah me,” she cries, “was ever moonlight seen
So clear and tender for our midnight trips?
Go some one forth, and with a trump convene
My lieges all!”–Away the goblin skips
A pace or two apart, and deftly strips
The ruddy skin from a sweet rose’s cheek,
Then blows the shuddering leaf between his lips,
Making it utter forth a shrill small shriek,
Like a fray’d bird in the gray owlet’s beak.

VIII.

And lo! upon my fix’d delighted ken
Appear’d the loyal Fays.–Some by degrees
Crept from the primrose buds that open’d then,
Ana some from bell-shaped blossoms like the bees,
Some from the dewy meads, and rushy leas,
Flew up like chafers when the rustics pass;
Some from the rivers, others from tall trees
Dropp’d, like shed blossoms, silent to the grass,
Spirits and elfins small, of every class.

IX.

Peri and Pixy, and quaint Puck the Antic,
Brought Robin Goodfellow, that merry swain;
And stealthy Mab, queen of old realms romantic,
Came too, from distance, in her tiny wain,
Fresh dripping from a cloud–some bloomy rain,
Then circling the bright Moon, had wash’d her car,
And still bedew’d it with a various stain:
Lastly came Ariel, shooting from a star,
Who bears all fairy embassies afar.

X.

But Oberon, that night elsewhere exiled,
Was absent, whether some distemper’d spleen
Kept him and his fair mate unreconciled,
Or warfare with the Gnome (whose race had been
Sometime obnoxious), kept him from his queen,
And made her now peruse the starry skies
Prophetical, with such an absent mien;
Howbeit, the tears stole often to her eyes,
And oft the Moon was incensed with her sighs–

XI.

Which made the elves sport drearily, and soon
Their hushing dances languish’d to a stand,
Like midnight leaves, when, as the Zephyrs swoon,
All on their drooping stems they sink unfann’d,–
So into silence droop’d the fairy band,
To see their empress dear so pale and still,
Crowding her softly round on either hand,
As pale as frosty snowdrops, and as chill,
To whom the sceptred dame reveals her ill.

XII.

“Alas,” quoth she, “ye know our fairy lives
Are leased upon the fickle faith of men;
Not measured out against Fate’s mortal knives,
Like human gosamers,–we perish when
We fade and are forgot in worldly kens–
Though poesy has thus prolong’d our date,
Thanks be to the sweet Bard’s auspicious pen
That rescued us so long!–howbeit of late
I feel some dark misgivings of our fate.”

XIII.

“And this dull day my melancholy sleep
Hath been so thronged with images of woe,
That even now I cannot choose but weep
To think this was some sad prophetic show
Of future horror to befall us so,
Of mortal wreck and uttermost distress,
Yea, our poor empire’s fall and overthrow,
For this was my long vision’s dreadful stress,
And when I waked my trouble was not less.”