Ever a note of wail and woe,
Till morning spreads her rosy wings,
And earth and sky in her glances glow.
“’Tis the hour of fairy ban and spell;
The wood-tick has kept the minutes well;
He has counted them all with click and stroke
Deep in the heart of the mountain oak,
And he has awakened the sentry elve,
Who sleeps with him in the haunted tree,
To bid him to ring the hour of twelve,