University of Virginia Library

Search this document 

expand sectionI. 
expand sectionII. 
expand sectionIII. 
expand sectionIV. 
expand sectionV. 
expand sectionVI. 
collapse sectionVII. 
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand section 
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
expand sectionVIII. 
expand sectionIX. 
expand sectionX. 
expand sectionXI. 


129

XXVIII. “TWO RUBIES”

The lilacs scented all the perfect air;
Bright living emeralds flashed on every spray:
Spring, ever fair to see, grew yet more fair
Within the eyes of May.
And I—I let my frost-bound heart expand;
I let the soft air lull me to repose.
I felt a joy the sun could understand,
The sun that courts the rose.
For, when the sun has striven through clouds and gloom
For many a weary league, for many an hour,
How must its strange soul worship all the bloom
Of one cloud-conquering flower.
There came a word those sunlit hours to mar.
Two rubies glittering on a golden ring
Said: “Soon will vanish some one dearer far
Than all the flowers of spring!”