Joseph Rodman Drake

Song from "The Culprit Fay"

Ouphe and Goblin! Imp and Sprite!

Elf of eve! and starry Fay!

Ye that love the moon's soft light,

Hither, hither wend your way;

Twine ye in a jocund ring,

Sing and trip it merrily,

Hand to hand, and wing to wing,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree.


The beetle guards our holy ground,

He flies about the haunted place,

And if mortal there be found,

He hums in his ears and flaps his face;

The leaf-harp sounds our roundelay,

The owlet's eyes our lanterns be;

Thus we sing, and dance, and play,

Round the wild witch-hazel tree.


But, hark! from tower on tree-top high,

The sentry-elf his call has made:

A streak is in the eastern sky,

Shapes of moonlight! Flit and fade!

The hilltops gleam in morning's spring,

The skylark shakes his dappled wing,

The day-glimpse glimmers on the lawn,

The cock has crowed, and the Fays are gone.