The Elm Tree Fairy

 

A touch of whimsy and the wonders of 

 the imagination on this last day of August....

Soft and brown in Winter-time,

Dark and green in Summer's prime,

All their leaves a yellow haze

in Autumn's pleasant days...

See the lines of Elm trees standing

Keeping watch through all the land

Over lanes, and crops, and cows,

And the fields where Dobbin ploughs.

All day long with listening ears

Sits the Elm Tree Elf and hears

Distant bell, and bleat, and bark,

Whistling boy and singing lark.

Often on the topmost boughs

Many a rook has build a house;

Evening comes, and overhead,

Cawing, home they fly to bed.

"The Elm Tree Fairy"
Illustration and poem by
Mary Cecily Barker
(1895-1973)
English illustrator and poetess
Official portrait painter of
the Croydon fairy-folk