POEMS BY
FLORENCE EARLE COATES[1]
"Not the treasure is it that has awakened in me so unspeakable a desire, but the Blue Flower is what I long to behold."—Novalis.
Something I may not win attracts me ever,—
Something elusive, yet supremely fair,
Thrills me with gladness, but contents me never,
Fills me with sadness, yet forbids despair.
It blossoms just beyond the paths I follow,
It shines beyond the farthest stars I see,
It echoes faint from ocean caverns hollow,
And from the land of dreams it beckons me.
It calls, and all my best, with joyful feeling,
Essays to reach it, as I make reply;
I feel its sweetness o'er my spirit stealing,
Yet know ere I attain it I must die!
He seemed to call me, and I shrank dismayed,
Deeming he threatened all I held most dear;
But when at last his summons I obeyed,
- ↑ Acknowledgment is made for these reprinted poems, in sequence, to 1The Atlantic Monthly, 2The Century, 3Lippincott's Magazine, 4Harper's Magazine, 5Scribner's Magazine, 6Harper's Magazine, 7Peterson's Magazine, 8Poems (Houghton, Mifflin & Co.), 9Poems, 10Atlantic Monthly, 11Atlantic Monthly, 12Poems, 13Atlantic Monthly, 14Poems, 15The Outlook.
