A Sussex Fairy

1
In the dusk
Down the lane
Skipped a fairy
"Glint" by name.
Somersaulting,
Grass-tuft vaulting,
On he came.

2
He did not notice me, of course.
Big me!
I stood stock-still like the trunk
Of a tree,
On the bank with the primroses
Thick in the grass,
Quiet as a wary bird
Watching him pass.

3
He was green-gold bright
Like the sun through trees;
Somehow alight
Although it was dusk,
And the shadows on-crowding.
Like a gleam he danced,
And he capered and pranced,
Answering back to a blackbird's whistle,
Taking his height by a tall-growing thistle.
The happiest thing that ever I've seen,
And I leant with a laugh from the leafage green.

4
He was still in a trice,
But I must have looked nice
For he blew me a kiss from his finger-tips,
A wee kiss plucked from his golden lips;
And was gone into air
And nothing was there
But the things of the day
Growing dim in the gray
Of the on-coming night.

—M.L.N.