THE FAIRY FORT
As I went by the fairy fort
I heard a laughing wee voice say—
“Whisht! Be these humans rale at all?
I’ll not believe it, nay!”
“Aye, but ye see the crayturs plain?”
“But seein’ niver makes it true,
No more that not to see be proof;
’Tis what they think and do.
“They just have faith in what they see,
And they be blind as midday owls—
Except the little childher dear,
And some with childher sowls.
“They chase unrale things all day long—
Money and aise and fame and power—
With niver time to pipe and dream,
Or gossip with a flower.
“Such stupid things they be, and quare!
I’ll not believe in them, not I!
Come, let us pipe a rale, true lilt,
And lave the crayturs by.”
As I went by the fairy fort
I heard a piping sweet and small;
I wonder, are the Wee Folk real,
Or am I real at all?