Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

FAIRYLAND, by             Poem Explanation     Poet Analysis     Poet's Biography
First Line: In light of sunrise and sunsetting


In light of sunrise and sunsetting
The long days lingered, in forgetting
That ever passion, keen to hold
What may not tarry, was of old,
In lands beyond the weary wold-
Beyond the bitter stream whose flood
Runs red waist-high with slain men's blood.
Was beauty once a thing that died?
Was pleasure never satisfied?
Was rest still broken by the vain
Desire of action, bringing pain,
To die in vapid rest again?
All this was quite forgotten there,
No winter brought us cold and care,
No spring gave promise unfulfilled,
Nor, with the eager summer killed,
The languid days drooped autumnwards.
So magical a season guards
The constant prime of a green June;
So slumbrous is the river's tune,
That knows no thunder of rushing rains,
Nor ever in the summer wanes,
Like waters of the summer time
In lands far from the fairy clime.


Yea, there the fairy maids are kind,
With nothing of the changeful mind
Of maidens in the days that were;
And if no laughter fills the air
With sound of silver murmurings,
And if no prayer of passion brings
A love nigh dead to earth again
Yet sighs more subtly sweet remain
And smiles that never satiate,
And loves that fear scarce any fate-
Alas! no words can bring the bloom
Of Fairyland, the faint perfume,
The sweet low light, the magic air,
To those who have not yet been there:
Alas! no words, nor any spell
Can lull the heart that knows too well
The towers that by the river stand,
The lost fair world of Fairyland.
Ah, would that I had never been
The lover of the Fairy Queen!
Or would that I again might be
Asleep below the Eildon tree,
And see her ride the forest way
As on that morning of the May!






Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!


Other Poems of Interest...
Home: PoetryExplorer.net