html.skin-theme-clientpref-night @media(prefers-color-scheme:dark){html.skin-theme-clientpref-os }ALMOST time for the ball of the last summer night,
Said a fairy, crimping her hair,
And my elfin wardrobe is in such a plight
I really have nothing to wear!
I really am quite in despair!
My buttercup satin is far from new
And I do not like the tint;
I have worn it twice already, too,
And to wear it again would hint
That I must needs pinch and stint.
I wish that my wind-flower dress were fresh
How pretty that used to be!
So dainty a color; so dainty a mesh;
And vastly well suited to me,
With pearls from the spray of the sea!
My brier-rose silk is slightly defaced
And I could not match it at all,
For the season is past; it needs a new waist;
I might wear my gossamer shawl,
The weather is so like the fall.
And this reminds me I surely must get
A new fringed gentian this year,
And a hoar-frost point—so costly! Yet
I really must have it, 't is clear;
Yes, let it be never so dear!
Oh there is my water-lily gown
Imported from Slumber Bay,
With the golden tassels all up and down
But that will be soon passée;
I think I will lay it away.
My violet—violet's quite gone out;
It will rage I've no doubt next year.
Oh what shall I get! and now that the drought
Has made fairy fabrics so dear!
Well, I must not dawdle here.
My thistle-dowu phaeton stands at the gate
And I must go out for a drive;
I would go to shop if it were not late;
Bless me! 't is almost five
By the four-o'clock, as I'm alive!
I have it—I have it! regardless of cost
I will send to the Silver Cascade
For a gown of that rainbow—pure sun-spinning, crossed
With the choicest colors made,
And warranted never to fade!
I will fringe it with mist! What an exquisite dress!
Most magical thing in air!
And here comes the Humming Bird Fairy Express
I will hail it and speak it fair,
For I must have something to wear.