Poems (Piatt)/Volume 1/The Gift of Empty Hands
THE GIFT OF EMPTY HANDS.A FAIRY TALE.
They were two princes doomed to death;Each loved his beauty and his breath:"Leave us our life, and we will bringFair gifts unto our lord, the King."
They went together. In the dewA charméd bird before them flew.Through sun and thorn one followed it;Upon the other's arm it lit.
A rose, whose faintest flush was worthAll buds that ever blew on earth,One climbed the rocks to reach; ah! well,Into the other's breast it fell
Weird jewels, such as fairies wear,When moons go out, to light their hair,One tried to touch on ghostly ground;Gems of quick fire the other found.
One with the dragon fought, to gainThe enchanted fruit, and fought in vain;The other breathed the garden's air,And gathered precious apples there.
Backward to the imperial gateOne took his fortune, one his fate;One showed sweet gifts from sweetest lands;The other torn and empty hands.
At bird, and rose, and gem, and fruit,The King was sad, the King was mute.At last he slowly said: "My sonTrue treasure is not lightly won.
"Your brother's hands, wherein you seeOnly these scars, show more to meThan if a kingdom's price I foundIn place of each forgotten wound."