The Poetical Works of John Payne Definitive Edition in Two Volumes |
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 | The Poetical Works of John Payne |  |
TROPIC FLOWER.
AS I went walking in the air one day—Sadly enough—a thought laid hold on me
With flower-soft hands and would not set me free.
It was, meseemed, as if a rose of May
Blew suddenly against a wintry way
Of snow and barren boughs; for I could see
No cause why such a lovely light should be
In my dull soul, nor how my heart's dismay
Should have lent life to any pleasant thing.
But, with remembering, presently I knew
That this was but the scarlet flowering
Of some most bitter aloe-root that grew
In my sick soul an hundred years and drew
All my lost summers to its single Spring.
| The Poetical Works of John Payne | |