_There when the sunset colours the streets_ _Everyone buys at wonderful stalls_ _Toys and chocolates, guns and sweets,_ _Ivory pistols, and Persian shawls:_ _Everyone’s pockets are crammed with gold;_ _Nobody’s heart is worn with care,_ _Nobody ever grows tired and old,_ _And nobody calls you “Baby” there._ _There with a hat like a round white dish_ _Upside down on each pig-tailed head,_ _Jugglers offer you snakes and fish,_ _Dreams and dragons and gingerbread;_ _Beautiful books with marvellous pictures,_ _Painted pirates and streaming gore,_ _And everyone reads, without any strictures,_ _Tales he remembers for evermore._ _There when the dim blue daylight lingers_ _Listening, and the West grows holy,_ _Singers crouch with their long white fingers_ _Floating over the zithern slowly:_ _Paper lamps with a peachy bloom_ _Burn above on the dim blue bough,_ _While the zitherns gild the gloom_ _With curious music! I hear it now!_ _Now_: and at that mighty word Holding out his magic fan, Through the waving flowers appeared, Suddenly, the tall thin man: And we saw the crumpled dwarf Trying to hide behind the tree, But his knotted scarlet scarf Made him very plain to see. Like a soft and smoky cloud Passed the webby net away; While its owner squealing loud Down behind the pear-tree lay; For the tall thin man came near, And his words were dark and gruff, And he swung the dwarf in the air By his long and scraggy scruff. There he kickled whimpering. But our rescuer touched the box, Open with a sudden spring Clashed the four-and-twenty locks; Then he crammed the dwarf inside, And the locks all clattered tight: Four-and-twenty times he tried Whether they were fastened right. Ah, he led us on our road, Showed us Wonder-Wander town; Then he fled: behind him flowed Once again the rose-pink gown: Down the long deserted street, All the windows winked like eyes, And our little trotting feet Echoed to the starry skies. Low and long for evermore Where the Wonder-Wander sea Whispers to the wistful shore Purple songs of mystery, Down the shadowy quay we came-- Though it hides behind the hill You will find it just the same And the seamen singing still. There we chose a ship of pearl, And her milky silken sail Seemed by magic to unfurl, Puffed before a fairy gale; Shimmering o’er the purple deep, Out across the silvery bar, Softly as the wings of sleep Sailed we towards the morning star.