Song for the Greenwood Fawn

The greenwood fawn at the hidden brook In the green green wood, O lovely! Shudders a fly off her dappled coat And watches a leaf, light raft afloat, Skip and swirl to the edge of the pool, Where the shadows of stone are shaded cool, Nor ever moves on her hornèd hooves In the green green wood, O lovely!

The greenwood fawn sees her own shy face The silver water mirrors, And the water washes her black furred nose, As a dragonfly in emerald clothes Darts from a branch to a stunted hedge And swoops past a shrub to light on a ledge, Where a trout shoots by, sleek submarine, Dark green against the summer green, And the fawn never moves on her hornèd hooves In the green green wood, O lovely!

O the greenwood fawn's a statue of bronze, Yet quivers like a stricken Warm live thing as the uncoiled spring Of terror makes her quicken; Caw-caw echoes the caw-caw cry, A black bird warning peril's nigh, And the fawn's white tail is a little white broom Dusting the door to a ferny room In the green green wood In the green green wood Of the greenwood fawn, O lovely!