The Fairy In the Glen

She comes to me when e’er she will, When starlight sprinkles my windowsill. When the dew finds rest upon the grass She taps upon my window glass. I go outside to be with her, To share a moment soft and pure, But she soon glides away down a wooded lane And I who follow think I follow in vain. We amble through the night time woods, Past curled up ferns and dark monk’s hoods, Past spiders in their silken weavings, Long past when night surpasses evening. I follow her deep into the glen To the reedy edge of a foggy fen Where cattails sway in a subtle breeze And glowworms float in airy ease. She pauses by a drowsy creek And turns to me as if to speak, But saying nothing moves farther ahead And alights on a nearby milkweed bed. She bids me listen to a joyful tune The crickets play beneath a full white moon, The notes flutter, then fall, gentle and sweet In dappled moonlight at my feet. We listen in silent similitude Afraid to disturb the delicate mood, Yet soon she starts to converse with me And I am richer for her company. We talk about many wonderful things – About robin’s eggs and butterfly wings. About caterpillars, elves and gnomes And where she claims to make her home. We talk about love and the joy it will bring And how it can make a lonely heart sing. I then smile at her but she turns away And I, left speechless, have nothing to say. And so we share the passing night And greet the dawn’s creeping light, But before the night succumbs to day She once more starts to glide away. She lingers near the waking brook Then disappears in a rocky nook. Looking in I can see her no more – She has returned to where she was before. Morning has come too soon it would seem And she has left me alone to ponder my dream. A dream? Perhaps, but real I know For she had deigned to make it so.