Flower o' the thorn A book of wayside verse: By John Payne |
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ANNUS VOLUBILIS. |
 | Flower o' the thorn |  |
ANNUS VOLUBILIS.
SPRING startles up the wander-lust in me,The will to prove and to possess the earth,
To track the transient spirit of rebirth
O'er field and flood and mountain, shore and sea.
Sweet Summer brings me, like the homing bee,
Back to the hive's still cheer and homely mirth;
And Autumn peace for only worship-worth
Proclaims, the peace of death volition-free.
—But thought in me by Winter's stark repose
Still to unrest is stirred and questing goes
Upon the thither margent of the stream
Of Life and Death, the perfume of some rose
Of yesterday pursuing o'er the snows
And the far drift of some forgotten dream.
| Flower o' the thorn | |