The Elves-Douglas Carswell

THE ELVES

I saw them not an hour ago,

Yes, saw them in a bower set,

With tiger lilies all a-row,

And marigolds and mignonette.

They came in ones and twos and threes-

A happy train of tiny elves,

And chased the spiders and the bees,

And climbed up to the dizzy shelves

Of sunny leaves, and leapt and sang,

And scampered through the underwood,

Until the mocking echoes rang

And scared the beetle with her brood.

And in and out the clover-beds.

They shook the puff-balls one by one,

And laughed to see their yellow heads

Go sailing up into the sun.

And then, with laugh and leap and shout,

They climbed the lily-cups, alas!

And rolled the crystal dewdrops out,

And split their beauty in the grass.

When-whisk!-they vanished as they came;

And all that showed where they had been-

A daddy-long-legs limp and lame,

A wildly shaking leaf of green.

DOUGLAS CARSWELL

Summary: 'The Elves' by Douglas Carswell is a poem describing a magical encounter with a group of playful elves. The narrator claims to have seen them recently in a bower surrounded by flowers like tiger lilies, marigolds, and mignonettes. The elves appeared in groups of twos and threes, and their happy procession was filled with chasing spiders and bees and climbing high up into the leaves. They played and sang, causing the echoes to rind throughout the underwood, and shook the puff-balls in the clover-beds, laughing as the yellow heads sailed into the sun. Eventually, they climbed onto the lily-cups, rolled the crystal dewdrops out, and split their beauty in the grass. In a blink of an eye, they vanished without a trace, leaving only a daddy-long-legs and a shaking leaf of green to mark their presence.