The Jar Flies

University of Oklahoma Magazine 9 (February 1, 1921):16.

By Ruth Margaret Muskrat

 

In the hush of the dusk when the first star shines

Out over the rim of the West.

And the dim outlines of the oaks and the pines

Show bare, of their leaves undressed;

Up through the valley and over the hill

The fairies troop, while a waking thrill

Steals through the wood, its peace to enhance

As the orchestra plays for the fairies' dance

A medley of notes from the pipes of Pan.

The Jar Flies, the gay Jar Flies

Humming and drumming their ceaseless cries;

Playing their notes for the fairies' glee,

Singing their songs to that gay galaxy,

While in undertones the druid oak sighs

Of the songs that you sang to me.

 

Somehow the song of the gay Jar Flies

Makes me think of my love for you;

And I see your eyes, like the clear blue skies

With the starlight of love shining through:

I hear your voice with its fluting chime;

I feel your hand steal into mine;

And we slip away through the valley dim

With careful step lest we tread on the hem

Of the fairy queen's robe as she glides through the wood

Keeping time to the song of the Jar Flies

The rollicking song of the Jar Flies.

The Jar Flies, the gay Jar Flies,

Humming and drumming their ceaseless cries,

Playing their notes for the fairies' glee,

Singing their songs to that gay galaxy,

While in undertones the druid oak sighs

Of the songs that you sang to me.

 

This is the song that the Jar Flies sing

When the leaves begin to fall,

Full of the swing and the reckless ring

Of the last mad frolic before the pall

Of Winter falls over the world.

But into it all a note is hurled

Like the sobbing note of a choking breath,

A note that is sad with the sadness of death;

For these are the heralds of Autumn,

These gay little singers of death:

The Jar Flies, the gay Jar Flies,

Humming and drumming their ceaseless cries;

Playing their notes for the fairies' glee,

Singing their songs to that gay galaxy,

While in undertones the druid oak sighs

Of the songs that you sang to me.

 

The leaves that are scarlet and yellow and gold

So soon to fall to the mouldering earth

Shiver and sigh as the night grows cold

And the song sings forth of death.

And I, in my fancy, reach out to you,

To hold you firm lest you go too,

But your hand is gone that stole into mine

And your eyes that shone like the first star shine

Have gone with the fairies too--

And I am alone with only my dream,

My wondrous dream of you

While the Jar Flies, the gay Jar Flies,

Humming and drumming their ceaseless cries;

Playing their notes for the fairies' glee,

Singing their songs to that gay galaxy,

While in undertones the druid oak sighs

Of the songs that you sang to me.