THE Dryads dwell in Easter woods, Though mortals may not see them there; They haunt our rustling solitudes, And love the solemn valleys where The bracken mocks their tawny hair. And where the rushes make a hedge With flowering lilies round the lake, They come to shelter in the sedge; They dip their shining feet and slake Their thirst where shallow waters break. But through the sultry noon their home Surrounds some smooth old beechen stem. Behold how thick the empty dome Is heaped with russet leaves for them, Where burr or thistle never came! And there they lie in languid flocks, A drift of sweetness unespied; They dream among their tawny locks Until the welcome eventide Breathe freshly through the woods outside. And then a gleam of white is seen Among the huge old ilex-boughs; The Dryads love its sombre green; They make the tree their summer-house, And there they swing and there carouse. But, if the tender moon by chance Come up the skies with silver feet, They spring upon the ground and dance Where most the turf is thick and sweet, -- And would that we were there to see 't! Nay! Nay! For should the woodman find A Dryad in a hollow tree, He drops his hatchet, stricken blind -- I know not why, unless it be The maid's Immortal, and not he! For none may see the nymph uncursed. And things unchristian haunt the woods... They stoop above our wells athirst, They love our rustling solitudes Where olden magic ever broods: The Dryads dwell in Easter woods! | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...SONGS OF TRAVEL: 44 by ROBERT LOUIS STEVENSON ENGLAND AND AMERICA IN 1782 by ALFRED TENNYSON THE BLASPHEMER'S WARNING; A LAY OF ST. ROMWOLD by RICHARD HARRIS BARHAM THE SECRET OF THE BEES by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON ANNA, THY CHARMS by ROBERT BURNS SONG: LOVER, IN DISGUISE OF AN AMAZON, DEARLY BELOVED OF HIS MISTRESS by THOMAS CAREW AWAITING THE GUILLOTINE, 1794 by ANDRE MARIE CHENIER NEW YEAR'S GREETING by ELEANOR B. CLAUSEN ELEGIE UPON ANACREON, WHO WAS CHOAKED BY A GRAPE-STONE by ABRAHAM COWLEY |