Poetry Explorer- Classic Contemporary Poetry, HELIOTROPE, by ANONYMOUS


Poetry Explorer

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

HELIOTROPE, by                    
First Line: "how strong they are, those subtile spells"
Last Line: Upon the heliotrope!
Subject(s): Heliotropes


HOW strong they are, those subtile spells
That lurk in leaves and flower-bells,
Rising from faint perfumes;
Or, mingling with some olden strain,
Strike through the music shafts of pain,
And people empty rooms.

They come upon us unaware,
In crowded halls and open air,
And in our chambers still;
A song, an odor, or a bird
Evokes the spell and strikes the chord,
And all our pulses thrill.

I wandered but an hour ago,
With lagging footsteps tired and slow,
Along the garden walk;
The summer twilight wrapped me round,
Through open windows came the sound
Of song and pleasant talk.

The odor-stealing dews lay wet
And heavy on the mignonette
That crept about my feet;
Upon the folded mossy vest
That clothed the ruby rose's breast
It fell in droppings sweet.

It fell on beds of purple bloom,
From whence arose the rare perfume
Of dainty heliotrope;
Which smote my heart with sudden power, --
My favorite scent, my favorite flower,
In olden days of hope!

Ah, me! the years have come and gone,
Each with its melody or moan,
Since that sunshiny hour,
When, for the sake of hands that brought,
And for the lesson sweet it taught,
I chose it for my flower.

Faint-scented blossoms! Long ago
Your purple clusters came to show
My life had wider scope;
They spoke of love that day -- to-night
I stand apart from love's delight,
And wear no heliotrope.

Between to-night and that far day
Lie life's bright noon and twilight gray, --
But I have lived through both;
And if before my paling face
The midnight shadows fall apace,
I see them, nothing loath.

Only to-night that faint perfume
Reminds me of the lonely gloom
Of life outliving hope; --
I wish I had been far to-night
What time the dew fell, silver-white,
Upon the heliotrope!





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