"A Fairy's Love-Song"

A Fairy's Love-Song

Oh, fireflies, fireflies, light all your candles,

        For down, deep down in the sea’s wet bed,

The wise little fishes have lighted their lanterns,

        And luminous jellyfish tents are spread.

I know not the way that my sweetheart is coming,

        Over the mountain or vale or sea,

But if o’er the water, I know that the fishes

        Swing tiny gold lanterns to light him to me.

The nights are deceptive and dangers are lurking—

        Fireflies, fireflies, trim every lamp!

And red little glow-worms, keep watch in the marshes,

        Down where the highways are dark and damp.

For he may come over the purple-rimmed mountain,

        Riding astride of a buffeted leaf;

Or over the sea on a gull’s snowy feather

        That any wild hour may be dashed on a reef!

And heaven, dear heaven, in each of thy windows

        Set a star burning— I know not the day

Or the night, or the hour, that my sweetheart is coming

        So light him and guide him upon his way.

A draft of "A Fairy's Love-Song" on onionskin paper, courtesy of the Ella Higginson Papers, Center for Pacific Northwest Studies, Heritage Resources, Western Washington University, Bellingham WA.

"A Fairy's Love-Song" appears in Ella Higginson's When the Birds Go North Again (1898) and was also set to music by Charles Gilbert Spross.