Soft, downy globes of wind-wooed dandelion
Where fairy knights sit at their clover wine
Until the afternoon's long heat abate.
Do giant butterflies with wings rich-hued
As sunset clouds, hang over thee in haste
Thy thickly bubbling honey all to sip?
Their great, vague beauty unguessed by our rude
And blundering vision? Flower of the waste,
What secret hovers on thy upcurled lip?
Where fairy knights sit at their clover wine
Until the afternoon's long heat abate.
Do giant butterflies with wings rich-hued
As sunset clouds, hang over thee in haste
Thy thickly bubbling honey all to sip?
Their great, vague beauty unguessed by our rude
And blundering vision? Flower of the waste,
What secret hovers on thy upcurled lip?
THE MIRACLE
Old Gregory of Tours relates with pride
Of how within the royal chapel hung
Above the tomb of one who died full young—
Murdered, some thought—the grim king's gentle bride,
A lamp swan-shapen of rock-crystal hard
With eyes of sapphire. From the chains it fell—
Nor was—oh, passing strange the miracle—
The frail glass shattered, nor the marble marred.
In my heart's chapel hangs above the tomb
Of a slain love a lamp of tender ray;
And may all pitying saints grant this to me—
Unspilt its fragrant oil may warm the gloom,
And may its fragile grace endure alway
O'er the hard marble of Reality.
Of how within the royal chapel hung
Above the tomb of one who died full young—
Murdered, some thought—the grim king's gentle bride,
A lamp swan-shapen of rock-crystal hard
With eyes of sapphire. From the chains it fell—
Nor was—oh, passing strange the miracle—
The frail glass shattered, nor the marble marred.
In my heart's chapel hangs above the tomb
Of a slain love a lamp of tender ray;
And may all pitying saints grant this to me—
Unspilt its fragrant oil may warm the gloom,
And may its fragile grace endure alway
O'er the hard marble of Reality.
VENETIAN VASES
You float and poise with such fantastic grace
Above the unseen tides of air as might
A dolphin or sea-swallow or the white
Swan-city of your birth. Against the rays
Above the unseen tides of air as might
A dolphin or sea-swallow or the white
Swan-city of your birth. Against the rays
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