It lay on Cain's hot neck
As he stooped to slay.
David's stone from the beck
Glittered its day.
Cleopatra gazed upon it
Through shadowed lids.
High halls they built to shun it
In the Pyramids.
It opens babies' hands
That crawl to snatch its beams.
Through hovels in ancient lands
Its splendor streams.
Eternal wells of light
Its largeness shows.
There shall be no more night
Its conscience knows.
It is a smiling stranger,
A fainting hour,
Love and peace and danger
And the mock of power.
Yet have I said no word
Of what it is.
Only—my heart is stirred
By its mysteries!
AND A LONG WAY OFF HE SAW FAIRYLAND
I lived once with fairies,
(And I know they're true fairies!)
One lifts laughing eyes
In a way I most admire.
Truth goes by contraries,
For you don't know they're fairies
Till there isn't any firelight,
Nor song beside the fire.
One fairy's small to hold,
And her hair is fairy gold.
One's a feminine fairy
With unusual address.
One fairy's just Jim.
You just look and love him,
With his nonsense and his laugh
And his sturdy steadfastness.
And the fairy queen I knew
Has eyes that are blue,
Has moods that are decided,
And courage that denies
It is ever brave at all.
She mends them when they fall;
She tends the little fairies
In absurd, delightful wise.