The Garden
Bountiful Givers,
I look along the years
And see the flowers you threw’¦
Anemones
And sprigs of gray
Sparse heather of the rocks,
Or a wild violet
Or daisy of a daisied field’¦
But each your best.
I might have worn them on my breast
To wilt in the long day’¦
I might have stemmed them in a narrow vase
And watched each petal sallowing’¦
I might have held them so– mechanically –
Till the wind winnowed all the leaves
And left upon my hands
A little smear of dust.
Instead
I hid them in the soft warm loam
Of a dim shadowed place’¦
Deep
In a still cool grotto,
Lit only by the memories of stars
And the wide and luminous eyes
Of dead poets
That love me and that I love’¦
Deep’¦ deep’¦
Where none may see– not even ye who gave –
About my soul your garden beautiful.
