And the nettle shaft through air was borne,
Feathered with down of the humbird's wing.
And now they deemed the courier Ouphe,
Some hunter sprite of the elfin ground;

And they watched till they saw him mount the roof
That canopies the world around;

Then glad they left their covert lair,
And freaked about in the midnight air.

XXVII

Up to the vaulted firmament
His path the fire-fly courser bent,
And at every gallop on the wind,
He flung a glittering spark behind;
He flies like a feather in the blast

Till the first light cloud in heaven is past,
But the shapes of air have begun their work,
And a drizzly mist is round him cast,
He cannot see through the mantle murk,
He shivers with cold, but he urges fast;
Through storm and darkness, sleet and shade,
He lashes his steed and spurs amain,

For shadowy hands have twitched the rein,
And flame-shot tongues around him played,
And near him many a fiendish eye
Glared with a fell malignity,

And yells of rage, and shrieks of fear,
Came screaming on his startled ear.

XXVIII

His wings are wet around his breast,

The plume hangs dripping from his crest,

His eyes are blurred with the lightning's glare,

And his ears are stunned with the thunder's blare,

:

But he gave a shout, and his blade he drew,
He thrust before and he struck behind,
Till he pierced their cloudy bodies through,
And gashed their shadowy limbs of wind.
Howling the misty spectres flew,

They rend the air with frightful cries,
For he has gained the welkin blue,

And the land of clouds beneath him lies.

XXIX

Up to the cope careering swift
In breathless motion fast,
Fleet as the swallow cuts the drift,

Or the sea-roc rides the blast,
The sapphire sheet of eve is shot,
The spheréd moon is past,

The earth but seems a tiny blot
On a sheet of azure cast.

Oh! it was sweet in the clear moonlight,
To tread the starry plain of even,

To meet the thousand eyes of night,

And feel the cooling breath of heaven!

But the elfin made no stop or stay

Till he came to the bank of the milky-way,

Then he checked his courser's foot

And watched for the glimpse of the planet-shoot.

That swelled to meet their footsteps' fall,
The sylphs of heaven were seen to glide,

Attired in sunset's crimson pall;

Around the Fay they weave the dance,
They skip before him on the plain,

And one has taken his wasp-sting lance,
And one upholds his bridle-rein;
With warblings wild they lead him on
To where through clouds of amber seen
Studded with stars, resplendent shone

The palace of the sylphid queen.
Its spiral columns gleaming bright
Were streamers of the northern light;
Its curtains' light and lovely flush
Was of the morning's rosy blush,
And the ceiling fair that rose aboon,
The white and feathery fleece of noon.

XXXI

But oh! how fair the shape that lay
Beneath a rainbow bending bright,
She seemed to the entranced Fay
The loveliest of the forms of light;
Her mantle was of purple rolled

At twilight in the west afar;
'Twas tied with threads of dawning gold,
And buttoned with a sparkling star.

Her face was like the lily roon

That veils the vestal planet's hue;

Her eyes, two beamlets from the moon,
Set floating in the welkin blue.

Her hair is like the sunny beam,

And the diamond gems which round it gleam

Are the pure drops of dewy even

That ne'er have left their native heaven.

XXXII

She raised her eyes to the wondering sprite,
And they leapt with smiles, for well I ween

Never before in the bowers of light

Had the form of an earthly Fay been seen.

Long she looked on his tiny face;

Long with his butterfly cloak she played; She smoothed his wings of azure lace,

And handled the tassel of his blade;

And as he told in accents low

The story of his love and woe,

She felt new pains in her bosom rise,

And the tear-drop started in her eyes,

And "O sweet spirit of earth," she cried,

"Return no more to your woodland height, But ever here with me abide

In the land of everlasting light! Within the fleecy drift we'll lie,

We'll hang upon the rainbow's rim; And all the jewels of the sky

Around thy brow shall brightly beam!

And thou shalt bathe thee in the stream
That rolls its whitening foam aboon,
And ride upon the lightning's gleam,

And dance upon the orbéd moon!
We'll sit within the Pleiad ring,
We'll rest on Orion's starry belt,

And I will bid my sylphs to sing

The song that makes the dew-mist melt;
Their harps are of the umber shade,
That hides the blush of waking day,

And every gleaming string is made

Of silvery moonshine's lengthened ray;
And thou shalt pillow on my breast,
While heavenly breathings float around,
And with the sylphs of ether blest,
Forget the joys of fairy ground."

XXXIII

She was lovely and fair to see

And the elfin's heart beat fitfully;

But lovelier far, and still more fair,
The earthly form imprinted there,
Naught he saw in the heavens above
Was half so dear as his mortal love,
For he thought upon her looks so meek,
And he thought of the light flush on her cheek;

Never again might he bask and lie

On that soft cheek and moonlight eye,

But in his dreams her form to see,

To clasp her in his revery,

To think upon his virgin bride,

Was worth all heaven, and earth beside.

XXXIV

"Lady," he cried, "I have sworn to-night,

On the word of a fairy knight,

To do my sentence-task aright;

My honor scarce is free from stain,
I may not soil its snows again;

Betide me weal, betide me woe,

Its mandate must be answered now."
Her bosom heaved with many a sigh,
The tear was in her drooping eye;
But she led him to the palace gate,

And called the sylphs who hovered there,
And bade them fly and bring him straight
Of clouds condensed a sable car.
With charm and spell she blessed it there,
From all the fiends of upper air;
Then round him cast the shadowy shroud,
And tied his steed behind the cloud;
And pressed his hand as she bade him fly
Far to the verge of the northern sky,
For by its wan and wavering light
There was a star would fall to-night.