Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker - Cotton-Grass Flower Fairy

Safe across the moorland
Travelers may go,
If they need our warning   
We're the ones who know!

Let the footpath guide you
You'll be safely led;
There is bog beside you
Where you cannot tread!

Mind where you are going!
If you turn aside
Where you see us growing,
Trouble will betide.

Keep you to the path, then!
Hark to what we say!
Else, into the quagmire
You will surely stray

Cotton Grass (Eriophorum virginicum)
Cotton grass, actually a member of the sedge family, typically grows in bogs, but also inhabits conifer swamps and marshes. When mature, the flower parts form dense, cottony tufts dotting the late summer and fall bog landscape with their showy heads. Cotton grass been used in the past for making candle wicks, stuffing pillows and even dressing wounds. Cotton grass also provides food for the large heath butterfly and black grouse.