The Bachelor in the Wood
BEAUTY I trod, who trod in bridal woods
A midnight galaxy of violets,
A milky way of flushed spring beauties, starred
With pleiads of all-golden addertongue,—
How could that blossomed fire be else than this,
The height of a woman’s ankle in the wood ?
A midnight galaxy of violets,
A milky way of flushed spring beauties, starred
With pleiads of all-golden addertongue,—
How could that blossomed fire be else than this,
The height of a woman’s ankle in the wood ?
Passion I breathed, who found all air a harp
To passionate brown thrushes shaken and thrilled,
The pauses in that magic minstrelsy
Filled with a music’s echo of cardinals, —
How could that warbled fire be else than this,
The height of a woman’s lips within the wood ?
To passionate brown thrushes shaken and thrilled,
The pauses in that magic minstrelsy
Filled with a music’s echo of cardinals, —
How could that warbled fire be else than this,
The height of a woman’s lips within the wood ?
But love, but love, how shall I find it here,
O April, Aphrodite, here alone ?
Those send the bees to find their sister flowers,
These sing unto their mates ; but love, my love ?
Is it where the hawk hangs on the moving cloud,
The height of a woman’s heart above the wood ?
O April, Aphrodite, here alone ?
Those send the bees to find their sister flowers,
These sing unto their mates ; but love, my love ?
Is it where the hawk hangs on the moving cloud,
The height of a woman’s heart above the wood ?
Joseph Russell Taylor.