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Heart of New England

Chapter 53: DANGEROUS PASSING
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About This Book

A lyric collection that moves through New England’s seasons, landscapes, and local history, blending pastoral description with folklore, legend, and occasional patriotic and religious reflections. Poems evoke shorelines, orchards, pine woods, and village life while honoring Pilgrim ancestry and the fortitude of pioneer women; other pieces imagine fairies, haunted houses, pirate lore, and convent gardens. Varied forms include children’s verses, contemplative nature lyrics, and occasional odes, united by a regionally rooted voice that balances celebration of place with quiet moral and communal meditation.

DANGEROUS PASSING

Who ventures to the Magic Wood?
Who dares the moonlit way,
Full perilous in the silver flood,
Though safe enough by day?
Who brushes through the mystic dew
To hear the flute of Pan,
And spy upon our dancing crew?
Beware, O Maid, O Man!
The Wee Folk lurk behind the trees
And ambush in the fern;
Our mischief whispers in the breeze—
Ye Trespassers, return!
Enchanted, each to each shall seem
Transfigured and divine;
Your faces with strange beauty gleam,
Your lips hold maddening wine.
You shall forget for what you seek;
Careless of all about,
Hand clasped to hand and cheek to cheek,
Sport for the elfin rout.
We tangle never to be free
The feet that tread too far.
Beware the moonlight witchery,
The magic of a star!