Ask not the Bard to lift the veil
That hides the Fairy's bridal bower;
If thou art young, go seek the glade,
And win thyself some fairy maid;
And rosy lips shall tell the tale
In some enchanted hour.
“Farewell!” as by the greenwood tree,
The Fairy clasp'd the Mortal's hand —
“Our laws forbid thee to delay —
Not ours the life of every day!—
And Man, alas! may rarely be
The Guest of Fairy-land.
“Back to thy Prince's halls depart,
The stateliest of his stately train:
Henceforth thy wish shall be thy mine —
Each toy that gold can purchase, thine —
A fairy's coffers are the heart
A mortal cannot drain.”
“Talk not of wealth — that dream is o'er!—
These sunny looks be all my gold!”
“Nay! if in courts thy thoughts can stray
Along the fairy-forest way,
Wish but to see thy bride once more —
Thy bride thou shalt behold.
“Yet hear the law on which must rest
Thy union with thine elfin bride;
If ever by a word — a tone —
Thou mak'st our tender secret known,
The spell will vanish from thy breast —
The Fairy from thy side.
“If thou but boast to mortal ear
The meanest charm thou find'st in me,
If” — here his lips the sweet lips seal,
Low-murmuring, “Love can ne'er reveal —
It cannot breathe to mortal ear
The charms it finds in thee!”