The Fairy Woman's Song.

The fairy woman maketh moan,
    "Well-a-day, and well-a-day,
Forsooth I brought thee one rose, one,
    And thou didst cast my rose away."
Hark! Oh hark, she mourneth yet,
    "One good ship - the good ship sailed,
One bright star, at last it set,
    One, one chance, forsooth it failed."

Clear thy dusk hair from thy veiled eyes,
    Show thy face as thee beseems,
For yet is starlight in the skies,
    Weird woman piteous through my dreams.
"Nay," she mourns, "forsooth not now,
    Veiled I sit for evermore,
Rose is shed, and charmèd prow
    Shall not touch the charmèd shore."

There thy sons that were to be,
    Thy small gamesome children play;
There all loves that men foresee
    Straight as wands enrich the way.
Dove-eyed, fair, with me they worm
    Where enthroned I reign a queen,
In the lovely realms foregone,
    In the lives that might have been.

Jean Ingelow

Jean Ingelow was an English poet and novelist known for her popular stories and poems in the 19th century. Her work, including 'Mopsa the Fairy', earned her recognition during her lifetime. She was also involved in the Pre-Raphaelite movement. Ingelow published several poetry collections, with her first in 1863, which was well-received and cemented her reputation as a poet.

Jean Ingelow

A Mother Showing The Portrait Of Her Child.

Jean Ingelow, Simple Poetry

Perdita.

Jean Ingelow, Simple Poetry

Defton Wood.

Jean Ingelow, Simple Poetry

Seven Times Three. Love.

Jean Ingelow, Simple Poetry

English

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An Arrow-Slit.

I clomb full high the belfry tower
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Playing at the ball, my dearest of all,
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Song In Three Parts.

I.

The white broom flatt'ring her flowers in calm June weather,
    'O most sweet wear;
Forty-eight weeks of my life do none desire me,
    Four am I fair,'

    Quoth the brown bee
    'In thy white wear
    Four thou art fair.
    A mystery
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    Straight unto thee.
    Great boon and bliss
    All pure I wis,
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    I,' quoth the bee,
    'Have not to give,
    Through long hours sunny
    Gathering I live:
    Aye debonair
    Sailing sweet air
    After my fare,
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    O thou white broom,
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Jean Ingelow

Midsummer Night, Not Dark, Not Light.

Midsummer night, not dark, not light,
    Dusk all the scented air,
I'll e'en go forth to one I love,
    And learn how he doth fare.
O the ring, the ring, my dear, for me,
    The ring was a world too fine,
I wish it had sunk in a forty-fathom sea,
    Or ever thou mad'st it mine.

Soft falls the dew, stars tremble through,
    Where lone he sits apart,
Would I might steal his grief away
    To hide in mine own heart.
Would, would 'twere shut in yon blossom fair,
    The sorrow that bows thy head,
Then - I would gather it, to thee unaware,
    And break my heart in thy stead.

That charmèd flower, far from thy bower,
    I'd bear the long hours through,
Thou should'st forget, and my sad breast
    The sorrows twain should rue.
O ...

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An Old Wife's Song.

And what will ye hear, my daughters dear? -
    Oh, what will ye hear this night?
Shall I sing you a song of the yuletide cheer,
    Or of lovers and ladies bright?

"Thou shalt sing," they say (for we dwell far away
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"Thou shalt sing us again some old-world strain
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"Thou shalt mind us so of the times long ago,
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While the old harbor light waxed faint in the white,
    Long rays shooting out from the sea;

"While lambs were yet asleep, and the dew lay deep
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Never grass was seen so thick nor so green
    As the grass that grew up there!

"In the town was no smoke, for none ther...

Jean Ingelow

The Lover Pleads.

I.

When I had guineas many a one
Nought else I lackèd 'neath the sun,
I had two eyes the bluest seen,
A perfect shape, a gracious mien,
I had a voice might charm the bale
From a two days widowed nightingale,
And if you ask how this I know
I had a love who told me so.
The lover pleads, the maid hearkeneth,
Her foot turns, his day darkeneth.
Love unkind, O can it be
'T was your foot false did turn from me.


II.

The gear is gone, the red gold spent,
Favour and beauty with them went,
Eyes take the veil, their shining done,
Not fair to him is fair to none,
Sweet as a bee's bag 'twas to taste
His praise. O honey run to waste,
He loved not! spoiled is all my way
In the spoiling of that yesterday.

The shadows ...

Jean Ingelow

Seven Times Three. Love.

I leaned out of window, I smelt the white clover,
Dark, dark was the garden, I saw not the gate;
"Now, if there be footsteps, he comes, my one lover -
Hush, nightingale, hush! O, sweet nightingale, wait
Till I listen and hear
If a step draweth near,
For my love he is late!

"The skies in the darkness stoop nearer and nearer,
A cluster of stars hangs like fruit in the tree,
The fall of the water comes sweeter, comes clearer:
To what art thou listening, and what dost thou see?
Let the star-clusters glow,
Let the sweet waters flow,
And cross quickly to me.

"You night-moths that hover where honey brims over
From sycamore blossoms, or settle or sleep;
You glowworms, shine out, and the pathway discover
To him that comes darkling along the rough steep...

Jean Ingelow