TWO fairies it was

                      On a still summer day

                      Came forth in the woods

                      With the flowers to play.




                      The flowers they plucked

                      They cast on the ground

                      For others, and those

                      For still others they found.




                      Flower-guided it was

                      That they came as they ran

                      On something that lay

                      In the shape of a man.




                      The snow must have made

                      The feathery bed

                      When this one fell

                      On the sleep of the dead.




                      But the snow was gone

                      A long time ago,

                      And the body he wore

                      Nigh gone with the snow.




                      The fairies drew near

                      And keenly espied

                      A ring on his hand

                      And a chain at his side.




                     They knelt in the leaves

                     And eerily played

                     With the glittering things,

                     And were not afraid.




                     And when they went home

                     To hide in their burrow,

                     They took them along

                     To play with to-morrow.




                     When you came on death,

                     Did you not come flower-guided

                     Like the elves in the wood?

                     I remember that I did.




                     But I recognised death

                     With sorrow and dread,

                     And I hated and hate

                     The spoils of the dead.