Fragment: Wine of the Fairies

[Published by Mrs. Shelley, "Poetical Works", 1839, 1st edition.]



I am drunk with the honey wine
Of the moon-unfolded eglantine,
Which fairies catch in hyacinth bowls.
The bats, the dormice, and the moles
Sleep in the walls or under the sward                                _5
Of the desolate castle yard;
And when 'tis spilt on the summer earth
Or its fumes arise among the dew,
Their jocund dreams are full of mirth,
They gibber their joy in sleep; for few                              _10
Of the fairies bear those bowls so new!