Page:Poems Greenwell.djvu/241

A common breath, until methought they took
 A human aspect, and like friends that know
Too much the heart's deep history, their look
 Hath oft-times troubled me;

        But these did blow
For me in meadows wide, ere yet I knew
That flowers were charactered with joy or grief;
Ye hid no secret in your folded leaf,—
    Flowers innocent and cool
    That hung above the pool,
Or thrid with gold the pleasant pastures through;
I learnt no "Ai, Ai," in your school,
    Quaint orchis, speedwells blue,
    And slender cups that grew
Deep in the woods, pale purple-veined and brimming o'er with dew!

        I see the quiet glade
Slope sunward, shut among its hills that lie
With light upon their brows; I hear the cry
Of wheeling rooks, the little brook goes by
 And lifts a hurrying voice as one afraid
 To linger on its way; within the shade
Moss-cushioned now I sit, where once my day
Cast all its wealth of Summer hours away
 Upon a book of Marvels; sunbeams hid
 Among the boughs came trickling down, and slid
From page to page to light me on my way;