Pixie, kobold, elf, and sprite, All are on their rounds tonight; In the wan moon's silver ray, Thrives their helter-skelter play.

The stanza conjures a nocturnal “fairy folk” procession—pixies, kobolds, elves, and sprites—moving through the night under a pale, “wan” moon. Benton’s diction (“on their rounds,” “silver ray,” “helter-skelter play”) blends the orderly with the chaotic: these beings patrol or circulate with purpose, yet their energy is mischievous and unruly. The effect is to present the night as a parallel realm where ordinary human order loosens and imagination thrives. The verse participates in a late-19th-century Anglophone taste for light, musical fairy imagery, using quick rhythm and internal sparkle to evoke motion, secrecy, and enchantment.