Poetry Explorer


Classic and Contemporary Poetry


THE RETURN OF THE FAIRY: 3. THE QUEEN'S DECISION TO BANISH HER .... by HUMBERT WOLFE

First Line: AND THE QUEEN, THOUGH SHE LOVED HER / NOT LEAST FOR THE CHILD
Last Line: ACTUAL SECOND.
Subject(s): COURTS & COURTIERS;

AND the Queen, though she loved her
not least for the child
through her merriest laughter
that solemnly smiled,
lest sorrow might stain with
her maculate beauty
the mirrors of fairyland,
deemed it her duty
to send back her changeling
to earth, knowing well
she might vanish for ever,
or might by a spell,
if one could be found
to recapture her, be
for ever reclaimed from
mortality.
She consulted the masters
of magic, and found
that a changeling sent back
for a test, could be bound
to observe one condition, which, broken.
they reckoned
would bring back the truant that
actual second.



Home: PoetryExplorer.net