RARE splendor of scarlet in royalest fashion My rich flower wears, as it thrills to the shine Of the proud sun, who loves such a chalice to flash on, And pours in its deep heart his nectar divine. Superbly it greets me, this joyless ascetic, So lately whose spiked leaves I fancied to wear Through slow-waning seasons, a meaning pathetic, Upheld like the hands of a martyr in prayer. Lo! now, for the cross of its standing in duty So patient, while near it gay neighbors were bright, It is suddenly crowned with superlative beauty, Transfigured and wondrous in shimmering light. In shape rare and perfect, in texture like satin, In tint like the ruby reflecting the sun, The flowers around it grow pale and look flat in The arrogant shadow of this haughty one. It is as though, lost, all alone and unmated, A beggar maid stood in the court of a king, Unknown 'mid the throngs who there clamorous waited, Till he saw her, and wooed her with robe and with ring. And throwing the grace of his mantle above her, Cried out to the world, "See! this jewel is mine, I need her, I yearn for her, crown her and love her," So blooms my rich flower in the sun's golden shine. | Discover our Poem Explanations and Poet Analyses!Other Poems of Interest...TO THE FOUR COURTS, PLEASE by JAMES STEPHENS LOVE: AN ELEGY by MARK AKENSIDE IN VINCULIS; SONNETS WRITTEN IN AN IRISH PRISON: HOW SHALL I BUILD by WILFRID SCAWEN BLUNT THE DASHING WHITE SERGEANT by JOHN BURGOYNE UPON MASTER WALTER MONTAGUE HIS RETURN FROM TRAVEL by THOMAS CAREW SONGS OF THE SEA CHILDREN: 35 by BLISS CARMAN LIVING BY FAITH by PHOEBE CARY THE LEGEND OF GOOD WOMEN: 9. THE LEGEND OF HYPERMNESTRA by GEOFFREY CHAUCER |