The Fairy Tempter

A fair girl was sitting in the greenwood shade, List'ning to the music the spring birds made, When sweeter by far than the birds on the tree, A voice murmur'd near her, "Oh come, love, with me, In earth or air, A thing so fair I have not seen as thee! Then come love, with me." "With a star for thy home, in a palace of light, Thou wilt add a fresh grace to the beauty of night; Or, if wealth be thy wish, thine are treasures untold, I will show thee the birthplace of jewels and gold-- And pearly caves, Beneath the waves, All these, all these are thine, If thou wilt be mine" Thus whisper'd a Fairy to tempt the fair girl, But vain was his promise of gold and of pearl; For she said, "Tho' thy gifts to a poor girl were dear My father, my mother, my sisters are here: Oh! what would be Thy gifts to me, Of earth, and sea, and air, If my heart were not there?"