to the spheres;
therefore, if feasible, shall "brevity be the soul of wit," and we
will eschew "tediousness and outward flourishes" in compressing 'The
Flower and the Leaf' into little:--

THE FLOWER AND THE LEAF.

A maiden in greenwood in month of sweet May,
Arose and awoke at the dawn of the day:
As she wended along,
She heard fairie song--
"Si doulce est la Margarite."
There the Ladye the Flower and Ladye the Leaf,
With knights and squires of fairie chief,
Were met upon mead,
For devoir and deed--
Homage unto "La doulce Margarite."

There the ladye in white and the ladye in green
Sat on their thrones by the Fairie Queen,
Whilst knights did their duty,
And bowed down to beauty--
"Si doulce est la Margarite,"--
When the skies grew hot and the ladies pale,
And the storm descended in lightning and hail,
As they danced and sung,
And the burden rung--
"Sous la feuille, sous la feuille, meet."

Our Ladye of Leaf asked her of the Flower
And fairie Nymphs to shelter in bower:
And they danced and sung,
And the refrain rung--
"Si doulce est la Margarite."
All woe begone shivered the Ladye Flower,
The Ladye Leaf glittered in gems from the shower:
As they danced and sung,
And the refrain rung--
"Si doulce est la Margarite."

And knights and squires then wended forth,
East and west, and south, and north:
To free forests and shores
From giants and boars,
And shelter in night and in storm;
And every knight bore _in chief_ on his shield
The _foyle en verte_ on an _argent_ field:
And they rode and they sung
The huge oaks among:--
"Sous la feuille, sous la feuille, dorme."

The maiden then asked of the Fairie Queen
To tell her the moral of what she had seen:
Who answered and sung
In her fairie tongue--
"Si doulce est la Margarite."
The knight that is wise will lead from bower
The lasting Leaf--not the fading Flower:
And when storms arise
To turmoil life's skies--
"Sous la feuille, sous la feuille, meet."

Romaunt of the Rose.

Within my twentie yeares of age,
When Love asserteth most his courage,
I dreamed a dream, now fain