Fiddler's Farewell/Hyacinths

by Leonora Speyer

Hyacinths

Leda, they say, once found an eggHidden under hyacinths . . . . . . much whiter than an egg . . .Sappho

Did she pluck it from the curly flowers;Make a nestOf her long light hair?

Or did she slip the white thing in her breast,As smooth, as fair?Lie smiling through the hours?(Proudly awareOf tiny flutterings,Knowing wellWhat she guarded there,Hidden within the shell!)

Did she dream of powerful white wingsThat beat upon her like a milky tide—Again—again—?Did she swoon beneath a dream of hyacinths?

And then,Did the shell open wideUnder her crying kiss?

I with children at my side,Ponder so on this.