"CALL back your odours, lovely flowers! From the night-winds call them back; And fold your leaves till the laughing hours Come forth in the sunbeam's track! "The lark lies couched in her grassy nest, And the honey-bee is gone, And all bright things are away to rest -- Why watch ye here alone? "Is not your world a mournful one, When your sisters close their eyes, And your soft breath meets not a lingering tone Of song in the starry skies? "Take ye no joy in the dayspring's birth When it kindles the sparks of dew? And the thousand strains of the forest's mirth, Shall they gladden all but you? "Shut your sweet bells till the fawn comes out On the sunny turf to play, And the woodland child with a fairy shout Goes dancing on its way!" "Nay! let our shadowy beauty bloom When the stars give quiet light, And let us offer our faint perfume On the silent shrine of night. "Call it not wasted, the scent we lend To the breeze, when no step is nigh: Oh, thus for ever the earth should send Her grateful breath on high! "And love us as emblems, night's dewy flowers, Of hopes unto sorrow given, That spring through the gloom of the darkest hours Looking alone to heaven!" | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...OCTAVES: 16 by EDWIN ARLINGTON ROBINSON JOHN WINTER by LAURENCE BINYON REPORT ON EXPERIENCE by EDMUND CHARLES BLUNDEN ON THE COUNTESS OF PEMBROKE by WILLIAM BROWNE (1591-1643) NICHOLAS NYE by WALTER JOHN DE LA MARE THE TEMPEST: PROLOGUE by JOHN DRYDEN THE MEMORY OF MARTHA by PAUL LAURENCE DUNBAR THE WILLIAM P. FRYE [FEBRUARY 28, 1915] by JEANNE ROBERT FOSTER |