The Fairy Tempter

A fair girl was sitting in the greenwood shade,
List'ning to the music the spring birds made,
When sweeter by far than the birds on the tree,
A voice murmur'd near her, "Oh come, love, with me,
In earth or air,
A thing so fair
I have not seen as thee!
Then come love, with me."


"With a star for thy home, in a palace of light,
Thou wilt add a fresh grace to the beauty of night;
Or, if wealth be thy wish, thine are treasures untold,
I will show thee the birthplace of jewels and gold--
And pearly caves,
Beneath the waves,
All these, all these are thine,
If thou wilt be mine"


Thus whisper'd a Fairy to tempt the fair girl,
But vain was his promise of gold and of pearl;
For she said, "Tho' thy gifts to a poor girl were dear
My father, my mother, my sisters are here:
Oh! what would be
Thy gifts to me,
Of earth, and sea, and air,
If my heart were not there?"