 | Egeria, or, The Spirit of Nature and Other Poems |  |
158
THE LEGEND OF THE WILLOW-WEED
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The Willow-weed, or Willow-herb (Epilobium), beautiful alike in its wild state and as an ornament to the garden, begins to drop its purple flowers towards the end of August. Its pod opens at the top, and displays the seeds, each attached to a little car or balloon of the most delicate down, which at the slightest breath of wind are dispersed over the country. There is a fanciful notion attached to the down of the Willow-weed, as also to that of the Thistle and the Dandelion, that if blown into the air by a lady, it will sail away in the direction inhabited by him who is most truly attached to her.
I
The Willow-weed displayed no moreTo summer suns its purple crown,
But on its fainting forehead bore
Its waving plumes of feathery down.
The rosy-cheeked and black-eyed Nell,
As beautiful as she was kind,
Broke off the flower to try a spell,
And spread it smiling to the wind.
“Fly, feathery down!” she said, and blew—
“To North or South, to East or West;
But travel sure, and tell me true,
Where dwelleth he that loves me best.”
162
II
The gentle breath of Ellen's lipsLet loose the little slim-built cars,
As light as Mab's aërial ships,
In which she journeys to the stars.
By current of the breeze impelled,
The frail balloon went floating forth,
But, traitor to the hope it held,
Was slowly borne towards the North.
“False flower,” she cried, “the spell is nought;
There is a magnet in the West—
Thou shouldst have travelled with my thought;
Thou know'st him not that loves me best.”
III
Behind a tree the youth she lovedStood, feeding fancy with delight;
He clasped her willing hand, and proved
That she had wrought the charm aright.
“Though I lay hid, the flower was wise;
Thy look, thy voice, thy spell it knew,
And, drawing magic from thine eyes,
Toward my throbbing heart it flew.”
“Fly, flower,” she said, “fly fair and free,
To North or South, to East or West;
Thou shall be Love's own flower to me,
For sake of him who loves me best.”
| Egeria, or, The Spirit of Nature and Other Poems | |