spider webs on grass in dim light
Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Midsummer Spirits by Sarah Das Gupta

Mustardseed

I serve Titania, the Fairy Queen,

resting on a perfumed bank

of wild thyme, scattered in the grass,

where yellow cowslips

and primroses thrive.

In her silvery, moonlit grotto

honeysuckle is entwined

with briar roses’ satin sheen,

a pillow for a drowsy Queen.


Peaseblossom

She calls on us to sing and dance,

to make magic rings in the grass

to seek the bats’ leather wings,

to make coats for the elves.

to drive the green caterpillar

from the heart of the damask rose.

The hooting owl must be mute

whose call echoes through summer woods.


Cobweb

I make sheets of gossamer,

soft and sparkling for my Queen.

I search for the adder’s skin,

wide enough to wrap a fairy in.

With spears of purple thistle,

I guard her through the velvet dark,

no hobgoblin or evil fiend

shall come near my Fairy Queen.


Moth

I am Moth, fairy of the night,

protecting my Queen from any sprite.

My wings are dark, with silver seeds

and rare turquoise from distant mines.

I watch for snakes with forked tongues.

Beatles black and spiders hairy

prickly hedgehogs, I chase away,

so, my lady safe may stay.


Bio

Sarah Das Gupta is a retired teacher from near Cambridge, UK who also taught in India and Tanzania. She started writing last year after she became bored in hospital, following an accident. Her work has been published in magazines/journals from the US, UK, India, Canada, Mauritius, and Croatia.

Author's note

As an English teacher for over sixty years I have taught most of Shakespeare's plays, often visited the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre in Stratford-on-Avon and produced many plays in the course of my teaching. I have always wondered why Shakespeare did not develop the fairy roles rather more in A Midsummer Night's Dream, a play with some wonderful speeches by Oberon and Titania! The attitude about fairies in the sixteenth century was very different from the Victorian concept which until recently, dominated modern interpretation. I thought giving a few words to Titania's personal retinue would be interesting. The complex folklore surrounding midsummer continues to intrigue me.