At Fontainebleau

At Fontainebleau by Arthur Symons

 IT was a day of sun and rain, 
Uncertain as a child’s swift moods; 
And I shall never spend again 
So blithe a day among the woods. 

Was it because the Gods were pleased 
That they were awful in our eyes, 
Whom we in very deed appeased 
With barley-cakes of sacrifice? 

The forest knew her and was glad, 
And laughed for very joy to know 
Her child was with her; then, grown sad, 
She wept, because her child must go. 

And Alice, like a little Faun, 
Went leaping over rocks and ferns, 
Coursing the shadow-race from dawn 
Until the twilight-flock returns. 

And she would spy and she would capture 
The shyest flower that lit the grass; 
The joy I had to watch her rapture 
Was keen as even her rapture was.

The forest knew her and was glad, 
And laughed and wept for joy and woe. 
This was the welcome that she had 
Among the woods of Fontainebleau.

Form: Ballad

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