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?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...INTERRACIAL by GEORGIA DOUGLAS JOHNSON A MID-DAY DREAMER by JAMES WELDON JOHNSON THE MARRIAGE (1) by TIMOTHY LIU THE DAY AND THE WORK by EDWIN MARKHAM THE SPARROW HARK IN THE RAIN (ALEXANDER STEPHENS HEARS NEWS) by EDGAR LEE MASTERS |