Classic Poem

Sun-warmed, where Hudson meets the sea,
My motley-blossomed croft is sown—
A desert inn that cheers the bee
Astray amid our wastes of stone—

Where pansies raise their velvet heads,
Where lilies nod to hollyhocks
Across the sweet-alyssum beds;
And tiger-bells and four-o'clocks,

Right neighborly, together grow—
The wild and tame, the red and white;
And here I spend the hour of glow
Ere moths and bats bring in the night.

And here my chair's a ducal throne;
I rule a fief in Fairyland,
Though scarce to any serf is known
My puissant, scepier-wielding hand.

Unchecked, his subterrene abode
That Earth-gnome Worm may dig with zeal,
Nor shall I balk the Ogre Toad
Who marks him for a horrid meal!

Those gay Zingaras of the breeze,
The air-delighting Butterflies,
Have come to woo my trellised peas
That mock so well their forms and dyes.

I know yon dart of emerald light
That shakes the arbor's dewy shower!
The Humming-bird, bold errant knight,
Is tilting with the trumpet-flower!

Unthanked, unknown, aloof, benign,
By wayward whim alone controlled,
Like him that ruled in ease divine
The careless, lawless Age of Gold,

So do I hold Saturnian reign
Till one transcending day, I ween,
Shall welcome to her leal domain
My Suzeraine—the Faery Queen.