26 NOVEMBER 1921, Page 15

POETRY.

THE PIXIES' PLOT.

(A pleasant maxim of old time directed the gardener to leave one corner es Nature planned it, for the little people. Thus welcomed, they might be trusted to show their human hosts good will, friendship, and service.)

You have it, or you have it not : Tho cantle of the Pixies' plot, Where never spade nor hoe shall ply To break that treasured sanctity.

Touch no bloom there ; uproot no weed ; Let what will blow.

Suffer the thistle, briar, and thorn to grow, The dandelion to seed.

Though full the garden of your mind, Well planted on a soil that's kind ; Your hedges gay, your borders clean, Your seasons fair, your clime serene, Yet trammel not the Pixies' mite, For welcoming Chance little, wandering, weary, fairy Ulu' Lost in the dim owl-light.

Still virgin, free and set apart, Ordain one dingle of your heart, Where visions home, and wing to you The.goiden dreams that might come true. Herein a gentler dawn than day Shall often break For foot-sore spirits, tired of reason's ache, And children come to play.