Stedman and Hutchinson, comps. A Library of American Literature:
An Anthology in Eleven Volumes. 1891.
Vols. IX–XI: Literature of the Republic, Part IV., 1861–1889
Little People
By Charles de Kay (18481935)[From Hesperus, and Other Poems. 1880.]
I
Their pygmy dance in red sunrise,
I caught the warm and tender glance
Each gallant gave his dear one’s eyes.
With plumèd lordlings stamp the heel;
Behind them swords and fans they fling
And foot it blithely down the reel.
In meetings of the swaying dance—
Then fled not, but were swiftly missed,
Like love from out a well-known glance.
Mere blossom-stalks from tulips tossed;
The fans that sparkled on the stone
Were turned to sprays of glittering frost.