TO SOME FLOWERS Growing Near a Wall of Portland Harbor
Reading edition
What will you bring today? Nod once if it be grave, Nod thrice if it be gay! Primrose with eyes for night, Sweet-peas with wings for flight, Poppies with cups for dew, Love in the midst of rue: Which nods to me? No, you turn your faces all one way Against the wall, Because a wind from off the sea Draws its chill fingers down your cups And bids your petals fall. You do not nod, You beckon neither once nor thrice To me, but to the earth There slips a cover manifold Of every hue. And from the wall beside the sea Curl mist and myriad broken wings. Such gift you give to me!