 | [Poems by Piatt in] The Children Out-of-doors |  |
41
IN FIELD AND HIGHWAY.
I.
A COUNTRY GIRL.
Sunburnt! The lily wears no parasol,And yet is she the whitest flower of all;
And the rose loses not her delicate blood,
Though green leaves are her seldom gypsy hood.
Margaret's was like the April's spirit in May,
Tenderly bright, gracious and softly gay;
Her smile was the utterance of a soul, unheard,
That does not need to speak its gentle word:
That word which, spoken, then would be as mild
As when an angel speaks unto a child—
As simple as the child's that does not know
It is an angel whom it answers so.
Her eyes were mirrors made for innocence
To see itself in holy confidence.
42
II.
RUTH.
(FOR A PICTURE.)
Oh, beautiful to-day she stands,
That Gleaner of far days of old,
In Oriental harvest-lands,
Framed in the harvest gold!
The Evening folds her tenderly
In holy calms of breathless air,
And only pensive-throated birds
Seem chanting to her there!
That Gleaner of far days of old,
In Oriental harvest-lands,
Framed in the harvest gold!
The Evening folds her tenderly
In holy calms of breathless air,
And only pensive-throated birds
Seem chanting to her there!
The twilight thick with banded sheaves,
(Half hidden amid its dusky glow,)
With tremulous hush of darkling leaves,—
How solitary! Lo!
She breathes for ever! They are gone—
The Reapers—their last harvest o'er,
While in the field of Memory stands
The Gleaner evermore!
(Half hidden amid its dusky glow,)
With tremulous hush of darkling leaves,—
How solitary! Lo!
She breathes for ever! They are gone—
The Reapers—their last harvest o'er,
While in the field of Memory stands
The Gleaner evermore!
43
III.
ONE BEHIND TIME.
(BY THE ROADSIDE.)
O world upon the hurrying train,Fly on your way! For me,
A saunterer through the slighted lane,
A dreamer, let me be.
My footsteps pass away in flowers—
So fragrant all I meet!
Use the quick minutes of your hours,—
The days die here so sweet!
| [Poems by Piatt in] The Children Out-of-doors | |