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 THE PLEA OF THE MIDSUMMER FAIRIES AND OTHER FAIRY POEMS is an eBook of gorgeous, whimsical, nineteenth century fairy poetry by Thomas Hood.  The poems are whimsical, humorous, and gorgeous. Suitable for all ages and great for reading out loud.  This week you can name your own price for this book, even if it is only a dollar.  This special preview edition is in PDF form only. It will be out in Kindle, ePUB, and MS Reader in time for Christmas.  If you like it, please tell all your friends.  I also need review quotes.  Thank you.  

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THE DREAM FAIRY

A little fairy comes at night,
Her eyes are blue, her hair is brown’
with silver spots upon her wings,
And from the moon she flutters down.

She has a little silver wand,
And when a good child goes to bed
She waves her wand from right to left
And makes a circle round her head,

And then it dreams of pleasant things,
Of fountains filled with fairy fish,
And trees that bear delicious fruit,
And bow their branches at a wish;

Of arbours filled with dainty scents
From lovely flowers that never fade,
Bright ‘flies that flitter in the sun,
And glow-worms shining in the shade;

And talking birds with gifted tongues
For singing songs and telling tales,
And pretty dwarfs to show the way
Through the fairy hills and fairy dales.

from THE PLEA OF THE MIDSUMMER FAIRIES AND OTHER FAIRY POEMS

Two Cinquains

by

Adelaide Crapsey (American, 1878-1914)

November Night

Listen. .

With faint dry sound,

Like steps of passing ghosts,

The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees

And fall.

Niagara

Seen on a Night in November

How frail

Above the bulk

Of crashing water hangs,

Autumn, evanescent, wan,

The moon.

November Night

Listen. .

With faint dry sound,

Like steps of passing ghosts,

The leaves, frost-crisp'd, break from the trees

And fall.

Adelaide Crapsey (American, 1878-1914)

Ithaca

by
Constantine P Cavafy (20th. Century Greece)

When you set out for Ithaka ask that your way be long, full of adventure, full of instruction. The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops, angry Poseidon - do not fear them: such as these you will never find as long as your thought is lofty, as long as a rare emotion touch your spirit and your body. The Laistrygonians and the Cyclops, angry Poseidon - you will not meet them unless you carry them in your soul, unless your soul raise them up before you. Ask that your way be long. At many a Summer dawn to enter with what gratitude, what joy - ports seen for the first time; to stop at Phoenician trading centres, and to buy good merchandise, mother of pearl and coral, amber and ebony, and sensuous perfumes of every kind, sensuous perfumes as lavishly as you can; to visit many Egyptian cities, to gather stores of knowledge from the learned. Have Ithaka always in your mind. Your arrival there is what you are destined for. But don't in the least hurry the journey. Better it last for years, so that when you reach the island you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting Ithaka to give you wealth. Ithaka gave you a splendid journey. Without her you would not have set out. She hasn't anything else to give you. And if you find her poor, Ithaka hasn't deceived you. So wise you have become, of such experience, that already you'll have understood what these Ithakas mean.

Gathering Leaves

by 

Robert Frost (20th. Century American)

Spades take up leaves
No better than spoons,
And bags full of leaves
Are light as balloons.

I make a great noise
Of rustling all day
Like rabbit and deer
Running away.

But the mountains I raise
Elude my embrace,
Flowing over my arms
And into my face.

I may load and unload
Again and again
Till I fill the whole shed,
And what have I then?

Next to nothing for weight,
And since they grew duller
From contact with earth,
Next to nothing for color.

Next to nothing for use.
But a crop is a crop,
And who's to say where
The harvest shall stop?

Two Autumn Haiku by Issa

1819

.名月や膝を枕の子があらば
meigetsu ya hiza [wo] makura no ko ga araba

harvest moon--
my lap would be a pillow
if my child were here

1819

.秋風やむしりたがりし赤い花
aki kaze ya mushiritagarishi akai hana

autumn wind--
red flowers she wanted
to pick

[These poems were written shortly after the death of the poet's infant daughter, Sato.  Viewing the harvest moon would normally be festive.]

Translations by David G. Lanoue.  His website has ten thousand haiku by Issa.  http://haikuguy.com/issa/haiku.php?code=

The Wild Swans at Coole

The trees are in their autumn beauty,
The woodland paths are dry,
Under the October twilight the water
Mirrors a still sky;
Upon the brimming water among the stones
Are nine-and-fifty swans.

The nineteenth autumn has come upon me
Since I first made my count;
I saw, before I had well finished,
All suddenly mount
And scatter wheeling in great broken rings
Upon their clamorous wings.

I have looked upon those brilliant creatures,
And now my heart is sore.
All’s changed since I, hearing at twilight,
The first time on this shore,
The bell-beat of their wings above my head,
Trod with a lighter tread.

Unwearied still, lover by lover,
They paddle in the cold
Companionable streams or climb the air;
Their hearts have not grown old;
Passion or conquest, wander where they will,
Attend upon them still.

But now they drift on the still water,
Mysterious, beautiful;
Among what rushes will they build,
By what lake’s edge or pool
Delight men’s eyes when I awake some day
To find they have flown away?

William Butler Yeats Ireland, 1919