Cinnamon Fairy

One spice-scented evening
When jasmine blossoms fell
I heard a music strange and sweet
That made my heart-strings swell.

And there among the saffron flowers
I saw that there did dwell
A colony of fairies
In their garden citadel.

I stooped at one with instinct's hand
She squealed as if in pain
'Oh no, oh no, please let me go!
Boniah is my name!'

She had a diamond for a mind
And sunlight for her thoughts
And her fairy-heart the only
Compass that she bore.

Her hair and wings were just the breeze
Her tears the pearly rain
That watered all the emerald earth
Sweetening it again.

Her eyes were all the champagne stars
Beyond the crystal night
Her oval face the milky moon
That beamed with soft delight.

I held her close - the little self
She squealed her old refrain:
'Oh no, oh no, please let me go
Boniah is my name!'

So I in pity set her free
(for me 'twas mere a game)
And silently she fled from me
Beneath the night again.

Between my fingers, 'neath the moon
Betwixt its tangled beams
Leaving my spice-scented evening
Steeped in cinnamon dreams.

What dreams of sweet and sour
I loved her, loved her so!
Too much it seems to keep her
But much too much to let her go.