Explore "The Maids of Elfin-Mere" by William Allingham on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
When the spinning-room was here / Came Three Damsels, clothed in white, / With their spindles every night; / One and Two and three fair Maidens, / Spinning to a pulsing cadence, / Singing songs of Elfin-Mere; / Till the eleventh hour was toll'd, / Then departed through the wold. / Years ago, and years ago; / And the tall reeds sigh as the wind doth blow.
Three white Lilies, calm and clear, / And they were loved by every one; / Most of all, the Pastor's Son, / Listening to their gentle singing, / Felt his heart go from him, clinging / Round these Maids of Elfin-Mere. / Sued each night to make them stay, / Sadden'd when they went away. / Years ago, and years ago; / And the tall reeds sigh as the wind doth blow.