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 | The poems of Madison Cawein |  |
XII
“And, uninstructed, smiled and wrote ‘despair,’
Enamoured, yet fearful of the shade that should
Some day come stealing through my silent door
To sit unbidden through the lonely hours.—
I cast the shudder off, and in the fields
Found hope again, and beauty born of dreams:
For it was summer, and all living things,
The common flowers and the birds and bees,
Became interpreters of love for me:
Enamoured, yet fearful of the shade that should
Some day come stealing through my silent door
To sit unbidden through the lonely hours.—
I cast the shudder off, and in the fields
Found hope again, and beauty born of dreams:
For it was summer, and all living things,
The common flowers and the birds and bees,
Became interpreters of love for me:
Say that he can not tell her how he loves her—
Words, for such adoration, often fail,—
When but a bow of ribbon, glove that gloves her,
Clothes her fair femininity in mail.
Words, for such adoration, often fail,—
143
Clothes her fair femininity in mail.
So many ways and wisdoms to express what
To th' language of devotion is denied;
Ambassadors to make the maiden guess what
Before her heart's high fortress long has sighed.
To th' language of devotion is denied;
Ambassadors to make the maiden guess what
Before her heart's high fortress long has sighed.
A bird to sing his secret—she'll perpend him:
A bee to bid her soul to hear and see:
A blossom, like a sweet appeal, to bend him,
Before her there, upon a worshiping knee.
A bee to bid her soul to hear and see:
A blossom, like a sweet appeal, to bend him,
Before her there, upon a worshiping knee.
| The poems of Madison Cawein | |