Antinoüs: Star and Flower
CONSUMMATE flower of perfect human grace,
Thou too must close thy starry eyes in night!
But, lo, sublimed to azure deeps of space,
Thy beauty burns, a deathless star of light !
Thou too must close thy starry eyes in night!
But, lo, sublimed to azure deeps of space,
Thy beauty burns, a deathless star of light !
Forever drooped thy beauty’s flower-like head,
As some white lotus bends beneath its bloom;
But, lo, thy life-blood dyes the lotus red,
Still throbs thy heart in its impassioned gloom !
As some white lotus bends beneath its bloom;
But, lo, thy life-blood dyes the lotus red,
Still throbs thy heart in its impassioned gloom !
No lovely thing of earth is lost or dies ;
It leaps to other spheres of life and power.
Beauty turns not to nothingness, but flies
To more ethereal homes in star or flower !
It leaps to other spheres of life and power.
Beauty turns not to nothingness, but flies
To more ethereal homes in star or flower !
Mary C. Gates.