 | Le Cahier Jaune |  |
57
AZALEA.
A window into a dusty street:
A weary head, and a task that brings
Scanty profit nor aught of sweet
To the hours that lag on their leaden wings.
A weary head, and a task that brings
Scanty profit nor aught of sweet
To the hours that lag on their leaden wings.
Someone dropt me a charm to-day,
Dropt and vanished and bade me hope;
Yellow azalea, one tall spray,
Caught from a flashing fairy slope.
Dropt and vanished and bade me hope;
Yellow azalea, one tall spray,
Caught from a flashing fairy slope.
Bursting out like a starry shower,
Petals curled like a hanging wave,
Who that fashioned you, dainty flower,
Dreamed of a spirit so sweet and brave?
Petals curled like a hanging wave,
Who that fashioned you, dainty flower,
Dreamed of a spirit so sweet and brave?
See my brow to your charm is bent:
Where you pour from your mystic springs,
All in prodigal alchemy blent
Scents that quicken and lend me wings.
Where you pour from your mystic springs,
All in prodigal alchemy blent
Scents that quicken and lend me wings.
What stirs first in the dreaming brain?
Sweetness infinite, unaware,
Aching pleasure and happy pain,
Drowned in a glory of sunny air.
Sweetness infinite, unaware,
Aching pleasure and happy pain,
Drowned in a glory of sunny air.
Forest nooks in a summer world:
Waters slipping from ledge to ledge;
Bowery woodlands heaped and hurled
Down to the stream from the mountain's edge.
Waters slipping from ledge to ledge;
Bowery woodlands heaped and hurled
Down to the stream from the mountain's edge.
58
Boats that slide on a brimming stream
Under the shelter of willowy isles;
Thoughts that wind in a mystic dream;
Idle laughter and loving smiles;
Under the shelter of willowy isles;
Thoughts that wind in a mystic dream;
Idle laughter and loving smiles;
Yet there lurks in the honied wine
Something bitter and fresh and strong;
Wholesome savour of breeze and brine,
Wise and wild as the linnet's song.
Something bitter and fresh and strong;
Wholesome savour of breeze and brine,
Wise and wild as the linnet's song.
Sinks the fragrance perilous sweet,
Suddenly open the dreaming eyes;
Drowsily hums the teeming street,
Thunder broods in the lowering skies.
Suddenly open the dreaming eyes;
Drowsily hums the teeming street,
Thunder broods in the lowering skies.
Eton, 1892.
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