<h3> <SPAN name="fairy"></SPAN> THE FAIRY GOLDSMITH<br/> </h3>
<p class="poem">
Here's a wonderful thing,<br/>
A humming-bird's wing<br/>
In hammered gold,<br/>
And store well chosen<br/>
Of snowflakes frozen<br/>
In crystal cold.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Black onyx cherries<br/>
And mistletoe berries<br/>
Of chrysoprase,<br/>
Jade buds, tight shut,<br/>
All carven and cut<br/>
In intricate ways.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Here, if you please<br/>
Are little gilt bees<br/>
In amber drops<br/>
Which look like honey,<br/>
Translucent and sunny,<br/>
From clover-tops.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Here's an elfin girl<br/>
Of mother-of-pearl<br/>
And moonshine made,<br/>
With tortoise-shell hair<br/>
Both dusky and fair<br/>
In its light and shade.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Here's lacquer laid thin,<br/>
Like a scarlet skin<br/>
On an ivory fruit;<br/>
And a filigree frost<br/>
Of frail notes lost<br/>
From a fairy lute.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Here's a turquoise chain<br/>
Of sun-shower rain<br/>
To wear if you wish;<br/>
And glimmering green<br/>
With aquamarine,<br/>
A silvery fish.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Here are pearls all strung<br/>
On a thread among<br/>
Pretty pink shells;<br/>
And bubbles blown<br/>
From the opal stone<br/>
Which ring like bells.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
Touch them and take them,<br/>
But do not break them!<br/>
Beneath your hand<br/>
They will wither like foam<br/>
If you carry them home<br/>
Out of fairy-land.<br/></p>
<p class="poem">
O, they never can last<br/>
Though you hide them fast<br/>
From moth and from rust;<br/>
In your monstrous day<br/>
They will crumble away<br/>
Into quicksilver dust.<br/></p>
<p><br/><br/><br/></p>
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