Appendix to Rossetti Manuscript
A Fairy leapt upon my knee Singing and dancing merrily; I said, `Thou thing of patches, rings, Pins, necklaces, and such-like things, Disgracer of the female form, Thou paltry, gilded, poisonous worm!' Weeping, he fell upon my thigh, And thus in tears did soft reply: `Knowest thou not, O Fairies' lord! How much by us contemn'd, abhorr'd, Whatever hides the female form That cannot bear the mortal storm? Therefore in pity still we give Our lives to make the female live; And what would turn into disease We turn to what will joy and please.' |