 | The Last Crusade and Other Poems |  |
148
TO MABEL DARE.
Lady, forgive, if there be need
For pardon.—But if I should meet
A floweret on a wayside bank,
And call it fair and sweet;
For pardon.—But if I should meet
A floweret on a wayside bank,
And call it fair and sweet;
And thank it for its careless smile,
The lovelier because all unsought;
Then onward, with a heart more light
For having told its thought;
The lovelier because all unsought;
Then onward, with a heart more light
For having told its thought;
Say, would you blame?—Or if that flower
Were lighted with a soul, and knew
The magic of pink petal lips
And eyes of twilight blue;
Were lighted with a soul, and knew
The magic of pink petal lips
And eyes of twilight blue;
Should I keep silence?—Then I'll sin,
And bind about my heart, sweet Dare,
The blue-bell wreath that could not bind
The harvest of thy hair.
And bind about my heart, sweet Dare,
The blue-bell wreath that could not bind
The harvest of thy hair.
149
So passing from this gentle land
Of lordly trees and golden crops,
That rustle where a mighty hand
Hath smoothed the mountain-tops,
Of lordly trees and golden crops,
That rustle where a mighty hand
Hath smoothed the mountain-tops,
Spite of thy pretty palmistry,
That would have narrowed down my heart,
I still will keep a nook for thee,
If thou wilt own a part.
That would have narrowed down my heart,
I still will keep a nook for thee,
If thou wilt own a part.
| The Last Crusade and Other Poems | |