Poems (Katharine Elizabeth Howard)/Nom de plume
NOM DE PLUME
So am I hidden under thy soft wing,
Safe in retreat from the too potent glare.
My soul, like flower in precinct of the night,
Grows peacefully, secure from poison sting,
Quiet, serene as other gentle thing,—
Or, when my spirit moves to words of might,
Under thy wing secure I rest from sight,
'Scaped breathless as a fay to fairy ring.
Safe in retreat from the too potent glare.
My soul, like flower in precinct of the night,
Grows peacefully, secure from poison sting,
Quiet, serene as other gentle thing,—
Or, when my spirit moves to words of might,
Under thy wing secure I rest from sight,
'Scaped breathless as a fay to fairy ring.
I pray thee, fetch me not into the glare,
Expose myself not to the light of day;
My work is given to the world, the say
Is theirs,—myself is myself's own affair.
And so beneath my nom de plume I creep,
Thus far away from dead'ning things to keep.
Expose myself not to the light of day;
My work is given to the world, the say
Is theirs,—myself is myself's own affair.
And so beneath my nom de plume I creep,
Thus far away from dead'ning things to keep.