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Welcome to my fairy poems page!!
On here you will find 24 poems by Cicely Mary Barker from her book called
"Flower Fairies: The Little Pink Book".
I hope you enjoy them!!
The Song of the Apple Blossom Fairies
Up in the tree we see you, blossom-babies,
All pink and white;
We think there must be fairies to protect you,
From frost and blight,
Until, some windy day, in drifts of petals,
You take your flight.
You'll fly away! But if we wait with patience,
Someday we'll find
Here, in your place, full-grown and ripe, the apples
You left behind-
A goodly gift indeed from blossom-babies,
To human-kind!
The Song of the Columbine Fairy
Who shall the choosen fairy be
For letter C?
There's Candytuft, and Cornflower blue,
Campanula and Crocus too,
Chrysanthemum so bold and fine,
And the pretty dancing Columbine.
Yes, Columbine! the choice is she;
And with her, see,
An elfin piper, piping sweet
A little tune for those light feet
That dance among the leaves and flowers
In someone's garden.
(is it ours?)
The Song of the Fuchia Fairy
Fushia is a dancer
Dancing on her toes,
Clad in red and purple,
by a cottage wall;
Sometimes in a greenhouse,
In frilly white and rose,
Dressed in her best for the fairies' evening ball!
The Song of the Jasmine Fairy
In the heat of summer days
With sunshine all ablaze,
Here, here are cool green bowers,
Starry with Jasmine flowers;
Sweet-scented, like a dream
Of Fairyland they seem.
And when the long hot day
At length has worn away,
And twilight deepens, til
The darkness comes - then, still,
The glimmering Jasmine white,
Gives fragrance to the night.
The Song of the Mallow Fairy
I am Mallow, here sit I
Watching all the passers-by.
Though my leaves are torn and tattereed,
Dust-besprinkled, mud-bespattered,
See, my seeds are fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy ceeses!
There are what an elf will munch
For his supper or his lunch.
Fairy housewives, going down
To their busy market-town,
Hear me wheedling: "Lady, please,
Pretty Lady, but a cheese!"
And I never find it matters
that I'm nicknamed Rags-and-Tatters,
For they buy my fairy cheeses,
Freshest, finest, fairy cheeses!
The Song of the Orchis Fairy
The families of orchids,
they are the strangest clan,
With sports and twists resembling
a bee, or fly, or man;
And some are in the hot house,
and some in foreign lands,
But Early Purple Orchis
in English pasture stands.
He loves the grassy hill-top,
he breathes the April air;
He knows the baby rabbits,
he knows the Easter hare,
The nesting of the skylarks,
the bleat of lambkins too,
The cowslips, and the rainbow,
the sunshine, and the dew.
O orchids of the hot-house,
what miles away you are!
O flaming tropic orchinds,
how far, how very far!
The Song of the Ragged Robin Fairy
In wet marshy meaddows
A tattered piper strays -
Ragges, ragged Robin;
On tin reeds he plays.
He asks for no payment;
He plays, for delight,
A tune for the fairires
To dance to, at night.
They nod and they whisper,
And say, looking wise,
"A princeling is robin,
For all his disguise!"
The Song of the Thrift Fairy
Now will we tell of splendid things:
Seagulls, that sail on fearless wings
Where great cliffs tower, grand and high
Against the blue, blue summer sky.
Where none but birds (and sprites) can go.
Oh there the rose sea-pinks frow,
(Sea-pinks, whose other name is Thrift);
They fill each crevice, chink, and rift
Where no one climbs; and the top,
Too near the edge for sheep to crop,
think in the grass pink patches show.
the sea lies sparkling far below.
Oh lucky Thrift, to live so free
Between blue sky and bluer sea!
The Song of the Zinnia Fairy
Z for Zinnias, pink or red;
See them in the flower-bed,
Copper, orange, all aglow,
Making such a stately show.
I, their fairy, say Good-bye,
For the last of all am I.
Now the Alphabet is said
All the way from A to Z.
The Song of the Fumintory Fairy
Given me hundreds of years ago,
My name has a meaning you shall know:
It means, in the speech of the bygone folk,
"Smoke of the Earth" - a soft green smoke!
A wonderful plant to them I seemed;
Strange indeed were the dreams they dreamed,
Partly fancy and partly true,
About "Fumiter" and the way it grew.
Where men have ploughed
or have dug the ground,
Still, with my rosy flowers, I'm found;
Known and prized by the bygone folk
As "Smoke of the Earth" -
a soft green smoke!
The Song of the Stork's-Bill Fairy
"Good morning, Mr Grasshopper!
Please stay and talk a bit!"
"Why yes, you pretty fairy;
Upon this grass I'll sit.
And let us ask some riddles;
They're better fun than chat:
Why am I like the Stork's-bill?
Come, can you answer that?"
"Oh no, you clever Grasshopper!
I fear I am a dunce,
I cannot guess the answer -
I give it up at once!"
"When children think they've caught me,
I'm gone, with a leap and a hop;
And when they gather Stork's-bill,
Why, all the petals drop!"
The Song of the Pink Fairies
Early in the mornings,
When children, sill are sleeping,
Or late, late at night-time,
Beneath the summer moon,
What are they doing,
the busy fairy people?
Could you creep to spy them,
in silent magic shoon,
You might learn a secret,
among the garden borders,
Something never guessed at,
that no one knows or thinks:
Snip, snip, snip, go busy fairy scissors,
Pinking out the edges
of the petals of the Pinks!
Pink Pinks, white Pinks,
double Pinks, and single, -
Look at them and see
if it's not the truth I tell!
Why call them Pinks
if they weren't pinked out by someone?
And what but fairy scissors
could pink them out so well?
The Song of the Candytuft Fairy
Why am I "Candytuft"?
That I don't know!
Maybe all the fairies
First called me so;
Maybe all the children,
Just for a joke;
(I'm in the gardens
Of most little folk).
Look at my clusters!
See how they grow;
somepink or purple,
some white as snow;
Petals uneven,
Big ones and small;
Not very tuffy -
No candy at all!
The Song of the Phlox Fairy
August in the garden!
Now the cheerful Phlox
Makes one think of country-girls
Fresh in summer frocks.
There you see magenta,
Here is lovely white,
Mauve, and pink, and cherry-red -
such a pleasent sight!
Smiling little fairy
Climbing up the stem,
Tell us which is the prettiest?
She says, "All of them!"
The Song of the Sweet Pea Fairies
Here Sweet Peas are climbing;
(Here's the Sweet Pea rhyme!)
Here are little tendrils,
Helping them to climb.
Here are sweetest clolours;
Fragrance very sweet;
Here are silky pods of peas,
Not for us to eat!
Here's a fairy sister,
Trying on with care
Such a grand new bonnet
For the baby there.
Does it suit you, Baby?
Yes, I really think
Nothings more becoming,
Than this pretty pink!
The Song of the Daisy Fairy
Come to me and play with me,
I'm the babies' flower;
Make a necklace gay with me,
Spend the whole long day with me,
Till the sunset hour.
I must say Good-night, you know,
Till tomorrow's playtime;
Close my petals tight, you know,
Shut the read and white, you know,
Sleeping till the daytime.
The Song of the Larch Fairy
Sing a song of Larch trees
Loved by fairy-folk;
Dark stands the pine wood,
Bare stands the oak,
But the Larch is dressed and trimed
Fit for fairy-folk!
Sing a song of Larch trees,
Sprays that swing aloft,
Pink tufts, and tassels
Grass-green and soft:
All to please the little elves
Singing songs aloft!
The Song of the Herb Robert Fairy
Little Herb Robert,
Bright and small,
Peeps from the bank
Or the old stone wall.
Little Herb Robert,
His leaf turns red;
He's wild geranium,
So it is said.
The Song of the Foxglove Fairy
"Foxglove, Foxglove,
What do you see?"
The cool green woodland,
The fat velvet bee;
Hey, Mr bumble
I've got honey here for thee!
"Foxglove, Foxglove,
What do you see now?"
The soft summer moonlight
On bracken, grass, and bought;
And all the little fairies dancing
As only they know how.
The Song of the Wild Rose Fairy
I am queen whom everybody knows;
I am the English Rose;
As light and free as any Jenny Wren,
As dear to the Englishmen;
As joyous as a Robin Redbreast's tune,
I sent the air of June;
My buds are rose as a baby's cheek;
I have one word to speak,
One word which is my secret and my song,
'Tis "England, England, England" all day long.
The Song of the Honeysuckle Fairy
The lane is deep, the bank is steep,
The tangled hedge is high;
And clinging, twisting, up I creep,
And climbing towards the sky.
O Honeysuckle, mounting high!
O Woodbine, climbing to the sky!
The people in the lane below
Look up and see me there,
Where i my honey-trumpets blow,
Whose sweetnes fills the air.
O Honeysuckle, waving there!
O Woodbine, scenting the air!
The Song of the Heather Fairy
"Ho, Heather, ho! From south to north
spread now your royal purple forth!
Ho, jolly one! From east to west,
The moorland waiteth to be dressed!"
I come, I come! With footsteps sure
I run to clothe the waiting moor;
From heath to heath, I leap and stride
To fling my bounty far and wide.
The Song of the Rose Fairy
Best and deaest flower that grows,
Perfect both to see and smell;
Words can never, never tell
Half the beauty of a Rose -
Buds that open to disclose
Flod on fold of purest white,
Lovely pink, or red that glows
Deep, sweet-scented. What delight
To be Fairy of the Rose!
The Song of the Spindle Berry Fairy
See the rose-berried Spindle
All to sunset colours turning,
Till the thicket seems to knindle,
Just as thugh the trees were burning.
While my berries split and show
Orange-coloured seeds aglow.
One by one my leaves must fall;
Soon the wind will take them all.
Soon must fairies shut their eyes
For the Winter's hushabies;
But, before the autumn goes,
Spindle turns to flame and rose!
 
 
Art by Meilin Wong
Graphics by CC's Graphics2000
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