When She was in her Garden

When She was in her Garden written by Walter de la Mare

A Child's Day (1912)

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When she was in her garden
And playing with her ball,
Ann heard a distant music
On the other side of the wall-
A far-off singing, shrill and sweet,
In the still and sunshine day,
And these the words were of the song
That the voice did sing and say: -

‘Happy, happy it is to be
Where the greenwood hangs o’er the dark blue sea;
To roam in the moonbeams clear and still
And dance with the elves over dale and hill;
To taste their cups and with them roam
The fields for dewdrops and honeycomb.
Climb then, and come, as quick as you can,
And dwell with the fairies, Elizabeth Ann!’

Ann held her ball, and listened;
The faint song died away;
And it seemed it was a dream she’d dreamed
In the hot and sunshine day;
She heard the whistling of the birds,
The droning of the bees;
And then once more the singing came,
And now the words were these: -

‘Never, never, comes tear or sorrow,
In the mansions old where the fairies dwell;
But only the harping of their sweet harp-strings,
And the lonesome stroke of a distant bell,
Where upon hills of thyme and heather,
The shepherd sits with his wandering sheep;
And the curlew wails, and the skylark hovers
Over the sand where the conies creep;
Climb then, and come, as quick as you can,
And dwell with the fairies, Elizabeth Ann!’

And just as Ann a-tiptoe crept,
Under the old green wall,
To where a stooping cherry tree
Grew shadowy and tall;
Above the fairy’s singing
Hollow and shrill and sweet,
That seemed to make her heart stand still,
And then more wildly beat,
Came her Mother’s voice a-calling ‘Ann!
Come quick as you are able;
And wash your grubby hands, my dear,
For dinner’s on the table!’

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