Antoinette De Coursey Patterson

SHE wore a kirtle of bright cramoisie,

A golden band her slender waist confined.

The wise ones said that half a sprite was she—

So light her foot—and lighter still her mind!

And thus it happened, on the eve of May,

In spite of many a threat and warning word,

She with the fairies nimbly danced away—

And never any news of her was heard.

But when the summer rested on the glen,

And birds sang, and the roses blossomed free,

One said he heard a silver laugh again,

And glimpsed a kirtle, gold and cramoisie!