Fairies In My Garden

"There are fairies at the bottom of my garden"...from a song by Noel Coward. In gardens, glens, and forest glades That oft great banquet halls resemble, On a summer's night, If the moon is bright, One might see fairy folk assemble. One night, by purest happenstance, I chanced by one such congregation. I stood bespelled At what I beheld To be a fairy celebration. But something seemed to be amiss, Their demeanor was alarming. No joyful tunes Or ribald runes, These fairy folk were mourning. As I strained to hear, quite suddenly, I kenned why they were grieving. They keened and cried, A fairy died Because a human stopped believing. It's no supernatural malady Or some mysterious psychosis. How fairies thrive And stay alive Is by simple symbiosis. They need us to believe in them To keep their ranks from falling. And, yes, it's true, We need them, too, So listen for their calling. May I never grow too old to dream, May my heart, with age, not harden. Then they'll not grieve Whilst I believe In the fairies in my garden. I can hear their haunting music now, Tantalizing and pulsating. I must away, I cannot stay, My fairy folk are waiting.