Dollie Radford

The Song Unsung

Light as petals in their falling,
   Through a twilight summer hour,
Is your coming, and your passing
   As the perfume of a flower,
And your voices by the wayside,
   As a sigh the trees embower.

From the forest and the meadow,
   From the mountain and the sea,
From the stars beyond the star-world,
   From the visions yet to be,
As a dying song you linger
   On the air and call to me.

Stay, oh stay and cross my threshold,
   See the door is open wide,
And I listen for your coming
   Through all things that do betide,
Through the weeping and the laughter,
   That you may with me abide.

I will give you dainty raiment,
   Jewelled o'er with fancies rare,
Through the shadow and the sunshine,
   I will weave it for your wear,
Till all people see you clearly,
   In the town's great thoroughfare.

Ah ! you call me but to mock me,
   Fairy folk who will not stay;
While I hasten to your summons,
   As a mist you fade away;
As a dream, I dream awaking
   On the border of the day.