36
TRUE ALCHEMY.
The daisies of long ago bloomed in their place,
The buds on March twigs burst to view;
The birds of his childhood sang smiles to your face,—
My cavalier stoic was Poet for you.
The buds on March twigs burst to view;
The birds of his childhood sang smiles to your face,—
My cavalier stoic was Poet for you.
Pan piped all his reeds on the marshiest shore
And Juno had bluest of eyes,
Like tints of the robin's eggs, hunted of yore
When you had not come from the skies;
And Juno had bluest of eyes,
Like tints of the robin's eggs, hunted of yore
When you had not come from the skies;
And then 'twas Novalis whose mystical sight
Enkindled your cheek and new-lighted your eye,
And dear Edwin Arnold, with Kantaka white
And spices and roses and Indian dye.
Enkindled your cheek and new-lighted your eye,
And dear Edwin Arnold, with Kantaka white
And spices and roses and Indian dye.
Now tell me, dear friend, with a smile like the sun,
And garments enfolding repose,
How charmed you this rhapsody forth from the one
Who, to me, talked the dullest of prose?
And garments enfolding repose,
How charmed you this rhapsody forth from the one
Who, to me, talked the dullest of prose?
Your face is not fairer; your robe not so rare;
Your hand is not jeweled like mine;
What is the sweet Alchemy, pray you declare,
Gives dullness to me and to you the divine?
Your hand is not jeweled like mine;
What is the sweet Alchemy, pray you declare,
Gives dullness to me and to you the divine?
