Morning Glories

They swing from the garden-trellis
In Ariel-airy ease;
And their aromatic honey
Is sought by the earliest bees.

The rose, it knows their secret,
And the jessamine also knows:
And the rose told me the story
That the jessamine told the rose.

And the jessamine said: “At midnight,
E’re the red cock woke and crew,
The fays of Queen Titania
Came here to bathe in dew.

And the yellow moonlight glistened
On braids of elfin hair;
And fairy feet on the flowers
Fell softer than any air.

And their petticoats, gay as bubbles,
They hung up, every one,
On the morning glory’s tendrils,
Till their moonlight bath was done.

But the red cock crew too early,
And the fairies fled in fear,
Leaving their petticoats purple and pink,
Like blossoms hanging there.

Madison Cawein.