Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, THE MOONFLOWER, by JANET B. MONTGOMERY MCGOVERN


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Classic and Contemporary Poetry

THE MOONFLOWER, by                    
First Line: The flower that lives in the light of the moon
Last Line: There to sleep forever, drowned in the nectar I have drunk.
Subject(s): Flowers; Women


THE flower that lives in the light of the moon
Will, when morning comes, enfold betimes in its closing petals
The air-dancers of night who in the moonlight
Have crept into its heart to drink of its nectar.
Drowned in the joy they have sought, suffocated with sweetness.
I, too, a dancer of night, have at last found my nectar
Unbought have I given, and taken—of nectar,
In the light of the moon. Now would I, too, go;
Lest the days that come after—and the nights—
Dim the radiance which to-night's moon has given,
Take from me that which fills my heart,
Which glorifies my life, which makes holy
That which the world counts shame.
So to the holy moon, the protector of women,
I clap my hands and pray
That in his beams, which to-night make of the silvered earth
A perfect moon-flower,
I may be enfolded, may be drawn to his heart.
There to sleep forever, drowned in the nectar I have drunk.





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