 | Camera obscura |  |
28
THE WOODBINE.
“The woodbine is one of the plants that come earliest of
all into leaf....in its windings it follows the sun from
east to west.”
—Anne Pratt's Flowering Plants of Great Britain.
From East to West the woodbine runs
From East to West,
And that she loveth best she shuns
Within her breast
She beareth fire; upon her crest
She weareth flame; her soul is sweet,
What carest she though her hues be dim?
She woos the thorn, she clasps the briar,
The sooner him she loves to meet;
She weaves, she winds, she follows him,
She hides, but as she doth desire
From East to West the woodbine runs.
29
What while in gardens sunny fair
The golden sun-flower layeth bare
Her golden heart to meet the sun's;
Her soul is turned to his, her eye
Is fixed on his, she breathes no sigh,
Nor kindles in her odorous breast
A flame wherein to live, to die
With her who serveth uncaressed;
But she who is beloved is blest,
She moveth not from East to West.
The woodbine winds and weaves and runs,
And which of these two loveth best
I know not, neither have I guessed.
| Camera obscura | |