THE LAME BOY AND THE FAIRY
To be Chanted with a Suggestion of Chopin’s Berceuse
A Poem Game. See the Chinese Nightingale, pages 93 through 97
A lame boy
Met a fairy
In a meadow
Where the bells grow.
And the fairy
Kissed him gaily.
And the fairy
Gave him friendship,
Gave him healing,
Gave him wings.
“All the fashions
I will give you.
You will fly, dear,
All the long year.
“Wings of springtime,
Wings of summer,
Wings of autumn,
Wings of winter!
“Here is
A dress for springtime.”
And she gave him
A dress of grasses,
Orchard blossoms,
Wildflowers found in
Mountain passes,
Shoes of song and
Wings of rhyme.
“Here is
A dress for summer.”
And she gave him
A hat of sunflowers,
A suit of poppies,
Clover, daisies,
All from wheat-sheaves
In harvest time;
Shoes of song and
Wings of rhyme.
“Here is
A dress for autumn.”
And she gave him
A suit of red haw,
Hickory, apple,
Elder, paw paw,
Maple, hazel,
Elm and grape leaves.
And blue
And white
Cloaks of smoke,
And veils of sunlight,
From the Indian summer prime!
Shoes of song and
Wings of rhyme.
“Here is
A dress for winter.”
And she gave him
A polar bear suit,
And he heard the
Christmas horns toot,
And she gave him
Green festoons and
Red balloons and
All the sweet cakes
And the snow flakes
Of Christmas time,
Shoes of song and
Wings of rhyme.
And the fairy
Kept him laughing,
Led him dancing,
Kept him climbing
On the hill tops
Toward the moon.
“We shall see silver ships.
We shall see singing ships,
Valleys of spray today,
Mountains of foam.
We have been long away,
Far from our wonderland.
Here come the ships of love
Taking us home.
“Who are our captains bold?
They are the saints of old.
One is Saint Christopher.
He takes your hand.
He leads the cloudy fleet.
He gives us bread and meat.
His is our ship till
We reach our dear land.
“Where is our house to be?
Far in the ether sea.
There where the North Star
Is moored in the deep.
Sleepy old comets nod
There on the silver sod.
Sleepy young fairy flowers
Laugh in their sleep.
“A hundred years
And
A day,
There we will fly
And play
I spy and cross tag.
And meet on the high way,
And call to the game
Little Red Riding Hood,
Goldilocks, Santa Claus,
Every beloved
And heart-shaking name.”
And the lame child
And the fairy
Journeyed far, far
To the North Star.