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Classic and Contemporary Poetry
THE CHANGELING, by RUTH DUFFIN First Line: He stood alone outside the fairy hill Last Line: "upon the wind?" | |||
He stood alone outside the fairy hill, Beneath the horned moon, And heard below the grasses, gay and shrill, An elfin tune. There came to him a memory faint and far Of things he once had known-- A square of window and a twinkling star, A warm hearth-stone. He set soft feet upon the turfy path, Crushing the scented thyme; He turned his back upon the fairy rath, The hidden chime. He passed the swaying foxgloves by the wall, And left the stream behind; A startled rabbit through the brackens tall Fled like the wind. Drawn by a baby thought of mother-eyes, He pattered down the lane To the low house, and standing tip-toe-wise, Peeped through the pane. A woman hushed a wakeful child to sleep Beside a dying fire. "Husho, husho," she crooned, "and do not weep, O heart's desire." "Lie still and sleep, nor fear the fairies' wile; No harm shall come to thee." Outside, her baby saw the changeling smile Upon her knee. With dimpled hand he beat upon the glass. The woman drew the blind; "Husho, my child, dost hear the fairies pass Upon the wind?" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...A SHROPSHIRE LAD: 8 by ALFRED EDWARD HOUSMAN A FAREWELL [TO C.E.G.] by CHARLES KINGSLEY TO MY EXCELLENT LUCASIA, ON OUR FRIENDSHIP. 17TH JULY 1651 by KATHERINE PHILIPS PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 70, 71. MUKADDIM, MUWAKHIR by EDWIN ARNOLD PEARLS OF THE FAITH: 78. AL-BARR by EDWIN ARNOLD MEASUREMENTS by LOUISA SARAH BEVINGTON |
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