AMBER petals, ivory petals, Petals of carven jade, Charming with your ambrosial sweetness Forest and field and glade, Foredoomed in your hour of transient glory To shrivel and shrink and fade! Tho' mango blossoms have long since vanished, And orange blossoms be shed, They live anew in the luscious harvests Of ripening yellow and red; But you, when your delicate bloom is over, Will reckon amongst the dead. Only to girdle a girl's dark tresses Your fragrant hearts are uncurled: Only to garland the vernal breezes Your fragile stars are unfurled. You make no boast in your purposeless beauty To serve or profit the world. Yet, 'tis of you thro' the moonlit ages That maidens and minstrels sing, And lay your buds on the great god's altar, O radiant blossoms that fling Your rich, voluptuous, magical perfume To ravish the winds of spring. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...BEFORE ACTION by WILLIAM NOEL HODGSON ODES: BOOK 2: ODE 6. TO WILLIAM HALL, ESQ., WITH THE WORKS OF CHAULIEU by MARK AKENSIDE THE HERO OF VIMY; AN INCIDENT OF THE GREAT WAR by BRENT DOW ALLINSON DISTANCES by WILLIAM STANLEY BRAITHWAITE CRIPPLED SOLDIER by ABBIE FARWELL BROWN |