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Maker of Rainbows

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<h2>THE WIFE FROM FAIRY-LAND</h2> <div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> <ANTIMG style="float: left; height: 100px;" src="images/il016.jpg" alt="H" />er talk was of all woodland things, Of little lives that pass Away in one green afternoon, Deep in the haunted grass. </div> <div class="stanza"> For she had come from fairy-land, The morning of a day When the world that still was April Was turning into May. </div> <div class="stanza"> Green leaves and silence and two eyes— 'Twas so she seemed to me; A silver shadow of the woods,— Whisper and mystery. </div> <div class="stanza"> I looked into her woodland eyes, And all my heart was hers; And then I led her by the hand [Pg 52] Home up my marble stairs. </div> <div class="stanza"> And all my granite and my gold Was hers for her green eyes, And all my sinful heart was hers, From sunset to sunrise. </div> <div class="stanza"> I gave her all delight and ease That God had given to me, I listened to fulfil her dreams, Rapt with expectancy. </div> <div class="stanza"> But all I gave and all I did Brought but a weary smile Of gratitude upon her face— As though, a little while, </div> <div class="stanza"> She loitered in magnificence Of marble and of gold, And waited to be home again, When the dull tale was told. </div> <div class="stanza"> Sometimes, in the chill galleries, Unseen, she deemed, unheard, I found her dancing like a leaf, And singing like a bird. </div> <div class="stanza"> So lone a thing I never saw [Pg 53] In lonely earth and sky; So merry and so sad a thing— One sad, one laughing, eye. </div> <div class="stanza"> There came a day when on her heart A wild-wood blossom lay, And the world that still was April Was turning into May. </div> <div class="stanza"> In her green eyes I saw a smile That turned my heart to stone,— My wife that came from fairy-land No longer was alone. </div> <div class="stanza"> For there had come a little hand To show the green way home, Home through the leaves, home through the dew, Home through the greenwood—home. </div> </div> <div class="figcenter"> <ANTIMG src="images/il017.jpg" alt="decorative chapter end" /></div> <hr class="chap" /> [Pg 54] <div style="break-after:column;"></div>

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