Page:Poems Hornblower.djvu/198

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186

THE DESERT FLOWER.
As in the cold and desert sand,
The traveller found a single flower,
And gathered it with trembling hand,
An emblem of some happier hour,

To bloom and die within his heart,
In memory of his distant home,
And felt the social tear-drop start,
Amid the silence and the gloom;—

So, o'er my long and weary way,
I see thy smile at distance move;
And o'er my saddening spirit play,
Thy looks of sympathy and love.

The desert path I long have trod,
And thou, the single flower, dost shine,
Of all that dark and dreary road,
For ever mine, for ever mine!