Miracle, and Other Poems

<h2 id="id00287" style="margin-top: 4em">LILACS</h2> <p id="id00288">In lonely gardens deserted—unseen—<br/> Oh! lovely lilacs of purple and white,<br/> You are dipping down through a mist of green;<br/> For the morning sun's delight.<br/> And the velvet bee, all belted with black,<br/> Drinks deep of the wine which your flagons hold,<br/> Clings close to your plumes while he fills his pack<br/> With a load of burnished gold.<br/></p> <p id="id00289">You hide the fences with blossoms of snow,<br/> And sweeten the shade of castle towers;<br/> Over low, grey gables you brightly blow,<br/> Like amethysts turned to flowers.<br/> The tramp on the highway—ragged and bold—<br/> Wears you close to his heart with jaunty air;<br/> You rest in my lady's girdle of gold,<br/> And are held against her hair.<br/></p> <p id="id00290">In God's own acre your tender flowers,<br/> Bend down to the grasses and seem to sigh<br/> For those who count time no more by hours—<br/> Whose summers have all passed by—<br/> But at eventide the south wind will sing,<br/> Like a gentle priest who chanteth a prayer;<br/> And thy purple censers he'll set a-swing,<br/> To perfume the twilight air.<br/></p> <div style="break-after:column;"></div><br />