A GIRL by HANIEL (CLARK) LONG

One of life's pioneers
To whom God gave deep eyes
To see, and deep deep ears
To hear, and little veins
To penetrate, in the dark,
The spell-bound earth, and the heavens,
For news of all far beauty,
For tidings remote and lovely,
And creeping shadow-fears:
She dances through ancient forests
Winding her limbs in leaves
Her locks with the green nightshade:
She follows the spotted moth
Where the red flower appears
Under the beard of the live-oak;
She poises slend and topaz
At night by moonlight meres,
Marking the crystal barge
Of Paris, and piping the dirge
Of his beauty on the black bier;
She harkens to the low wind
Which weeps in the wood-edges,
Till the lancers of dawn ride up
With outflung crimson spears.

And then she comes distrait
Into the open day,
And wonders how to tell is
Her tidings far away.

Classic and Contemporary Poetry

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