IF I WERE A FAIRY.

If I were a fairy slight and small, Say, about as tall As a span-worm forming the letter O, What do you think I would do? I know! In the bell of the lily I'd rock and swing, Twitter and sing; And, taking the gold-dust under me, I'd splash the hips of the buzzing bee, That he might have meal to make his bread, With honey spread, For his thousand babies all in rows, Each in a bandbox up to his nose. I'd count the curls of the hyacinth By the fallen plinth, And make them glossy with morning dew By sunrise tinted with purple and blue; And out of the sunset sky I'd get For the violet Yellow and red, and dark marine, And purples deep, and a tender green; And all night long, as they lay in sleep, I would paint and steep Their velvet cheeks in a hundred dyes, That well they might open great staring eyes. Unseen I would come where the tired ants tug At a heavy slug, With my rye-beard lance I'd push it along, And they'd think, "All at once we are wondrous strong!" In the nest of the robin, under the eaves Of the apple-leaves, I'd drop a worm in the gaping throats That answer my chirp of the mother's notes. When bonny Miss Harebell thirsts in vain For a drop of rain, I would fill at the brook my shining cap, And lay it all dripping in her lap. Oh, what would I do as a fairy small? I cannot tell all; But I would do much with a right good will: To all things good, and to nothing ill. And I'd laugh and skip, like a bird on wing, Twitter and sing, And make boys and girls, and birds and flowers, All say, "What a lovely world is ours!" Well, what if I am not quite so small? I can do it all In my own sweet home by the same good will, No fairy, but something nobler still.