University of Virginia Library

Search this document 

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


161

SONNET I
THE FLOWER ASLEEP

I stood within the old wood,—and all the past
Swept through my spirit on wild storm-tossed wings:—
The past with all its pain and all its stings
And small sour fruit and endless yearning vast.
Upon white tides of woe my thought was cast,
'Mid shoals round which the hoarse sea-whisper rings:
I was immersed in floods of former things,
And my brow ached at strokes of passion's blast.
And then I looked, and lo! a flower asleep,—
The plant whose plumes I gathered long ago
To mix them in a girl's locks soft and deep.
Through seasons of fierce sun and months of snow,
While I full many a maddening watch did keep,
It had done nought but bloom, and fade and blow.